Doha Metro

Doha Metro
Overview
Owner Qatar Rail
Locale Doha
Transit type Rapid transit
Number of lines 2 (under construction)
2 (planned)
Number of stations 61 (under construction)
24 (planned)
Headquarters Doha
Website Qatar Rail
Operation
Operation will start 2019
Technical
System length 163.8 km (101.8 mi) (under construction)
48.1 km (29.9 mi) (planned)
Doha Metro Phase 1 route map

The Doha Metro is a planned rapid transit system in Qatar's capital city that is scheduled to become operational by the end of 2019.[1] It will have four lines with an approximate overall length of 300 km and 100 stations.[2] It will be an integral component of the larger Qatar Rail network, which will include a long-distance rail for passengers and freight, linking Qatar to the GCC, and Lusail's city local light rail transit (LRT).

History

Construction of the Doha Metro officially began with a groundbreaking ceremony at the site of Msheireb station, which will act as the hub for not only the Metro but also entire Qatar Rail network.[3] Throughout early 2013, Qatar Rail submitted tenders to various international firms to construct sections of Phase 1, corresponding to the Red and Green Lines. In mid-May, Italian firm Salini Impregilo was awarded to manage the construction of the Red Line North segment, running from Msheireb to Al Khor North.[4] In June, it was revealed that QDVC and Porr were successful in their bids to lead the building of the Red Line South segment and Green Line, respectively.[5] Fifteen tunnel boring machines will be used for the project from the German company Herrenknecht.[6]

Metro network

The Doha Metro will ultimately consist of four lines opening in phases beginning in 2019[7] with an eventual completion date of 2026.[8] The Red, Green and Gold Lines will radiate out from a central interchange at Msheireb in Downtown Doha, with the Blue Line providing a semi-orbital service.[8]

Line Opened Length Stations Termini
Red Line under construction 98.5 km (61.2 mi)[9] 30[9] Al Khor North[9]
Hamad International Airport
Messaieed
Green Line under construction 65.3 km (40.6 mi)[10] 31[10] Education City[10]
Al Rayyan North
Umm Slal Stadium
Industrial Area South
Gold Line under construction[11] 30.6 km (19.0 mi)[12] 20[12] Al Rayyan South[12]
Industrial Area North
Ras Bu Aboud
Blue Line planned 17.5 km (10.9 mi)[13] 4[13] West Bay Central[13]
Ras Bu Aboud
TOTAL: 211.9 km (131.7 mi) 85

Lines and Joint Ventures

Consisting of 4 lines, the Doha Metro Phase 1 is implemented by multiple Joint Ventures involving Local and International contractors. Qatar Rail has previously specified that consortiums looking to build different parts of the network should partner with a Qatari firm, which has led to companies such as Qatar Building Company, Galfar Al-Misnad Engineering, Al Darwish and HBK Contracting all picking up work alongside international bidders.[14]

Red Line North (Underground): The Red Line North starts from Msheireb station in the South to Al Khor in the North. Seven underground stations are proposed along this route up to Doha Golf Club, from where it will be over the ground to reach Al Khor. A Joint Venture (JV) led by Italy’s Salini Impregilo, South Korea’s S.A.K Engineering and Construction, and Galfar Al Misnad has been chosen as the D&B contractor.[15]

Red Line North (Elevated & at-grade): A Joint Venture (JV) consortium comprising Korea’s Lotte Engineering & Construction, Rizzani de Eccher of Italy and Redco of Qatar has been chosen as the D&B contractor.

Red Line South (Underground): The Red Line South extends from Msheireb in the North to Mesaieed in the South. It is planned to have six underground stations. The D&B JV contractors are Qatari Diar VINCI Construction (QDVC), GS Engineering and Construction, and Al Darwish Engineering.[16]

Red Line South (Elevated & at-grade): The Joint Venture led by Spain’s FCC and comprising Turkey’s Yuksel, Netherlands’ Archirodon and Qatar’s Petroserv has been selected as the D&B contractor for the line. The scope of work involves full design and construction of the Red Line section along Al Wakra Highway.[17]

Green Line: The Green Line, which also has both underground and Elevated and at-grade sections, extends from Msheireb in the East to Doha West. The project’s D&B contract of the Green line underground project has been given to a JV led by PORR Bau, Saudi Bin Laden Group and Hamad Bin Khalid Contracting.[18]

Gold Line: The Gold Line connects nine underground stations and D&B contractor is ALYSJ JV led by Greece's Ellaktor and comprising Larsen and Toubro (India), YapiMerkezi (Turkey), STFA (Turkey) and Al Jaber Engineering (Qatar). The project is scheduled to be completed by third quarter of 2018.[19]

Major stations: On May 2016, Consolidated Contractors (CCC) took over[20] the contract for Major Stations of Msheireb and Education City, from a JV of Samsung C&T Corporation (S. Korea), Obrascon Huarte Lein (Spain), and Qatar Building Company.[21]

Technology

Rolling stock

The 75 three-car driverless trainsets for the metro system will be supplied jointly by Japanese companies Mitsubishi Corporation and Kinki Sharyo.[22]

Signaling, telecommunication and security system

Thales of France will supply the train control signaling, telecommunication, a security system, an operations control center and an automatic fare collection system.[23]

Track and power supply

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries will supply the track and power supply. The company will also supply the platform screen doors and tunnel ventilation and will be responsible with overall project management and system integration.[24]

TBMs

The Metro network will cover the Greater Doha area and will include connections to town centers and main commercial and residential areas throughout the city. In central Doha, the Metro will be underground, whilst at the outskirts it will mainly be at ground level or elevated.[25] For the underground works, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) is importing Tunnel Boring Machines called TBM. 21 TBMs will be used to cut holes 20 meters beneath the city’s ground for all the lines.

Each of the TBMs for the Doha Metro measures 7.05m in diameter and 120m in length.[26] To ensure successful transportation, the machines are dismantled into sections, including the cutter head.

Each TBM will travel a distance of between 7–9 km and will take approx. 2 years to complete their respective journeys. The TBM average speed will be between 12m/day to 21m/day, depending on ground conditions. Daily excavation quantity will be over 600m³, with an estimated predicted total excavation quantity of over 5,000,000m³.[27][28]

Guinness World Record

Qatar Rail has been officially recognised by the Guinness World Records for "The Largest Number of Tunnel Boring Machines Operating Simultaneously in a Single Project", marking a milestone for large-scale transport projects in Qatar and across the region.[29] With this recognition, the company has broken the previous world record, which had set an initial benchmark of 19 simultaneously operational TBMs.[30] Because of the complexity of verifying the engineering of this record Guinness Book of Records appointed verifier and special tunnelling expert Professor Arnold Dix as part of the independent certification process. 30 TBM inspectors were deployed as part of the verification process, with at least one inspector concurrently attending and filming each operational TBM. The independent verifier was also supplied with the Geographic Information System (GIS) data of Qatar Rail to confirm the working status of all TBMs. This stringent expert verification process was performed on behalf of the Guinness World Records Authority in addition to multiple visits from the Guinness Book of Records verification committee visiting Doha in 2015.

Railway's Safety and Security

Safety and Security measures are applied throughout the drilling phase of the underground Doha Metro works. The planned procedures involve elements that can guarantee a safe working environment, far from the risks of injuries, including managing emergency cases and treating them swiftly. The safety & security program of Qatar's Railway focuses on the emergency planning and response on the railway network while taking into consideration the unique nature of mass transit systems when planning for and implementing the program.[31] The transport policies, security models addressing the legal and regulatory issues, as well as the relationships between the involved institutions [31] are also part of the safety and security plan that Qatar Rail Company is leading in Doha.

In September 2014, Qatar Rail, the owner and manager of Qatar’s rail network and the responsible for the design, construction, commissioning, operation and maintenance of the entire rail network and system,[32] has held a strategic workshop on the safety, security and resilience of the country’s railway network in consultation with UK and Qatari experts. The company proposed its safety and security programme, along with its recommendations and a full roadmap towards the future operation stage of the railway.[33]

In June 2014, it was announced that the Doha Metro Green Line Project achieved 6mn work hours without a lost time injury (LTI).[34]

Stations

Doha Metro will have around 100 stations for the entire network when the project is completed. This will include a major station built at Msheireb, hub for the Metro network and the interchange for Red, Green and Gold Lines.[35] As the stations play an important part – both practically and culturally – of any metro system, Qatar Rail chose to integrate the Qatari culture in the operating system by naming the metro stations after historical towns and cities, each carrying its own story and background.[36]

Red Line (Coast Line)

North-South Line connecting the towns of Al Khor in the north and Mesaieed in the south via Lusail, West Bay, Msheireb and the New Doha International Airport (NDIA).

Green Line (Education Line)

The Green Line follows Al Rayyan Road connecting Education City with the Heart of Doha. Furthermore, it links to Umm Slal and the Industrial Area South.

Gold Line (Historic Line)

Runs in an East-West direction and connects Airport City North via central Msheireb with Al Waab Street, Al Rayyan South and Salwa Road.

Blue Line (City Line)

Semi-circular line that connects the residential and commercial areas of West Bay and Airport City North along the main C-Ring Road.

Stations Design

The Doha Metro stations design was selected in October 2013 by the Emir of Qatar.[37] The design is called "Vaulted Spaces"; it is derived from the historic Islamic architecture as it uses the old Islamic architectural element in a modern way. UNStudio, the company responsible of the metro stations design, highlighted the region’s vernacular architecture, acting as a bridge between the country’s past and future.[38] One of the key elements of the design is that it gives the exterior shape of the station, by using modern bright materials to simulate the interior of an oyster. The levels of the station will be opened to each other to give passengers the feeling of comfort, also merging the functions of lighting and ventilation in the shapes of the arches. The "Vaulted Spaces" design was selected out of a total of six proposals and master plans for the Doha Metro stations.

References

  1. ↑ "Doha Metro, Qatar". Railway Technology. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "25 of the biggest construction projects in the GCC region". Arabian Industry. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Qatar breaks ground on Doha Metro". Railway Gazette. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  4. ↑ Italy's Impregilo leads $2bn Doha Metro deal win Arabian Business Retrieved 2013-06-19
  5. ↑ Two more Doha Metro contracts awarded Construction Week Online Retrieved 2013-06-19
  6. ↑ 15 German tunnel boring machines for Doha Metro The Peninsula Retrieved 2014-03-22
  7. ↑ "FAQs". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  8. 1 2 "Doha Metro". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  9. 1 2 3 "Red Line (Coast Line)". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  10. 1 2 3 "Green Line (Education Line)". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  11. ↑ "Gold Line Under Construction". Railway Technology. Retrieved 2014-04-23.
  12. 1 2 3 "Gold Line (Historic Line)". Qatar Rail. 31 October 2012. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  13. 1 2 3 "Blue Line (City Line)". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 2014-07-04.
  14. ↑ "Qatar Rail encourages local firms to bid for work". Construction Week Online. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Qatar Railways receives four tunnel boring machines for Metro project". BQ Doha. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Qatar Rail awards Doha Metro contracts worth $8.2bn". Railway Technology. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  17. ↑ "Doha Metro Project". Yuksel. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  18. ↑ "More Doha metro contracts awarded". Railway Gazette. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  19. ↑ "Greek-led consortium wins $4.4bn bid to build Doha Metro's Gold Line". Doha News. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  20. ↑ http://meconstructionnews.com/11803/qatar-rail-cancels-doha-metro-station-builders-contract
  21. ↑ "Doha Metro - The Major Stations". Construction Week Online. Retrieved 21 January 2015.
  22. ↑ "Doha metro rolling stock and railway systems contract awarded". Railway Gazette. 20 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  23. ↑ Laura Onita (20 February 2015). "Japanese-led consortium to build Doha Metro rail systems". Engineering & Technology. The Institution of Engineering and Technology. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  24. ↑ "Mitsubishi Heavy, partners to supply subway system to Qatar". Nikkei Asian Review. 19 February 2015. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  25. ↑ "Doha Metro". Qatar Rail.
  26. ↑ "Qatar Rail receives first Doha TBM". Tunnels Online. Retrieved 2014-04-29.
  27. ↑ "Doha Metro 16% complete". Doha News. Retrieved 2014-12-15.
  28. ↑ "Qatar Rail Receives a Set of Four New TBMs for Doha Metro". Retrieved 2014-06-04.
  29. ↑ "Qatar Rail TBMs entered into Guinness Records". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  30. ↑ "Qatar's Tbm Guinness Record". Retrieved 21 November 2015.
  31. 1 2 "Qatar Rail issues a strategic program for railway's safety and security". Zawya. 2014-09-24.
  32. ↑ "About Us". Qatar Rail.
  33. ↑ "Qatar Rail workshop discusses safety and security". Arabian Industry. 2014-09-30.
  34. ↑ "Qatar Rail achieves 6mn man-hours incident-free safety record". 2014-06-14.
  35. ↑ Qatar Rail Website Retrieved 2014-09-20
  36. ↑ "Doha Metro". Qatar Rail. Retrieved 1 November 2015.
  37. ↑ "Doha Metro design given green light". Gulf Times. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  38. ↑ "UNStudio designs stations for phase one of the doha metro". Designboom. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
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