Qatar Rail has completed tunnelling on the northern section of the Doha Metro Red Line, as one of the company’s tunnel boring machines (TBM) achieved the final breakthrough on the part of the line between Legtaifiya Station and Qatar University (QU).
This section of the line is where the Red Line emerges from the tunnels and rises up onto an elevated section running past QU and on to Lusail, Qatar Rail said.
The Doha Metro project is progressing full steam ahead, Qatar Rail said, with over 85% of tunnelling complete and overall project completion reaching 37%. Thirty-seven stations are currently under construction, 17 of which are at the stage where the concrete roof slab is being cast.
The northern section of the Doha Metro Red Line from Msheireb to Lusail is being built by international consortium Impregilo-SK E&C-Galfar Al Misnad JV (ISG). In addition to the tunnels, the ISG consortium is also responsible for the construction of seven underground stations out of a total 18 stations on the Red Line.
A total of four TBMs have worked on the line digging an average of 30 metres per day at their peak on this section. The end of tunnelling means that over 70% of the total construction on this section of the line is now complete, Qatar Rail said.
“We are particularly delighted by the progress on this section of the project as we and our colleagues in ISG have had to overcome some significant challenges,” said Abdulla Al Subaie, Managing director of Qatar Rail. “It is well know that one of our TBMs was flooded one year ago and the achievement today shows how effective our recovery operations were and that overall project progress was not affected.”
Tunnelling is expected to be complete by autumn, he added, at which point the project will move from the phase into systems installation as track, power supply and signalling are installed.
The Doha Metro project will also soon see the completion of tunnelling on the Gold and Green lines, said Saad Al Muhannadi, the CEO of Qatar Rail.
The first phase of the metro project is expected to be complete in the fourth quarter of 2019, while completion of the Lusail Tram is set for 2020.
By 2030, all the three networks – Doha Metro, Lusail Tram and the long-distance rail, which will link Qatar with the delayed GCC Rail network – are expected to be complete. With the completion of the first phase of the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram, Qatar Rail expects to offer 600,000 passenger trips per day by 2021. By then, 37 metro stations are expected to be complete, with an average journey time of three minutes between adjacent stations.