By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter

The tunnel-boring work for Doha Metro will start in the third quarter of this year even as construction is progressing on 21 stations, a senior official at Qatar Rail said yesterday.

“Some 15 tunnel-boring machines (TBMs) for the metro rail project are now being manufactured,” explained Sara al-Muhannadi, business development manager.

She was giving a presentation at the Qatari French Business Club’s second monthly “Tuesday evening” event.

“The delivery of the first train will be in the third quarter of 2017, followed by the power-on for the first test section in the fourth quarter of the same year,” al-Muhannadi said.

Completion of all stations and tunnels will be in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the operations scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Qatar Rail senior programme director Markus Demmler told Gulf Times on the sidelines of the event that some 130 trains were to be brought initially.

“We have awarded four contracts; the fifth one is about to be awarded. We have three elevated sections to be awarded and the system contract (which is under evaluation) will be awarded soon,” said Demmler.

He disclosed that there were about nine major construction contracts excluding other consultant contracts. He expressed confidence that the ambitious project would  significantly ease traffic congestion in Doha.

“The Doha Metro will be integrated with the other public transport systems offering attractive park and ride facilities, short travel periods from outside into the centre hubs where  people are actually working,” he noted.

Citing the harsh summer conditions in Qatar and other countries in the Gulf, he pointed out that the concept was to make good connections from the park and ride facilities with an air-conditioned travel access where people could go to the stations and reach their destinations comfortably.

“There is a special concept regarding sustainability, air-conditioning, walking and travelling distances,” he added.

The metro rail project is expected to bring in some 25,000 workers who will undergo “a very rigid safety scheme” with a strict supervision,

Part of the award criteria, Demmler stressed, was to select contractors with track records showing they  were capable to do the project following the highest safety standards for workers.

Meanwhile, about eight underground stations are being constructed for the Lusail Light Rail Transit and four are 90%  finished while tunnelling (cut-and-cover) is already complete. For the remaining stations, architecture and systems will start soon while civil work will continue until 2015.

The delivery of the first train for this line will be in the second quarter of 2017. The yellow line will start operating in the second quarter of 2018. The three other lines will only start in the second quarter of 2020, however.