In its continuous efforts to drive best practices across all aspects of its development of Doha Metro, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) organised a three-day work visit to Berlin for a delegation from the Qatar General Directorate of Civil Defence.
The objective is to learn about world-class fire drill, safety and control benchmarks and processes related to the Berlin’s metro stations and tunnels as part of a shared vision to achieve world-class safety in the new Doha Metro.
In a packed series of knowledge, expertise and information exchange sessions with the Berlin Metro’s safety and prevention fire specialists and German Civil Defence, the visit took place under the framework of continuous co-operation between Qatar Rail and the Qatari Ministry of the Interior.
The first day of the exchange programme involved a visit to the Berlin Flagship Station, where delegates experienced hands-on the latest available technology and tools employed into fire-fighting emergencies, and were introduced to the planning behind the station’s emergency evacuation strategy.
The Qatari delegation also paid a visit to a Metro sub-station in Berlin, where it was taken through vital and integral preparatory works and contingency processes undertaken by its German counterpart during emergency situations, as well as  a demonstration of the latter’s upgraded evacuation plans and equipment.  Additionally, the Qatar Civil Defence team witnessed a fire drill, carried out by German specialists, for the evacuation of one of the metro stations.
Qatar Rail’s technical relations executive director engineer Hassan al-Marwani observed that Qatar Rail recognises and prioritises the importance of the public administration role in civil defence.
“To this end, we ensure mutual and continuous co-operation amongst all entities and departments involved and across all levels; starting from our commitment to the specifications and conditions of civil defence pertaining to the stations’ designs, stage-by-stage design approvals, and all the way to the involvement of evacuation and emergency plans.
“In line with this commitment, we agreed to organise a work visit to the Berlin Metro in order to benefit from the expertise of developed markets to equip our team, early on, with thorough exposure to scenarios and outcomes of emergency situations and potential fire hazards. Berlin is unique in that the German city’s metro shares a great deal of similarities with the Doha Metro.
“Needless to say, German expertise has a proven track record in operational efficiency and quality in this field, supported by unparalleled technical knowhow and innovation. We are confident that our delegation will bring back a great deal of learnings to ensure a similar level of safety preparation for Metro in Qatar.”
Al-Marwani added that one of the key benefits of this work visit lay in learning from the German Civil Defence team’s fire drill procedures, control processes and measures.
On the second day of the visit, the Qatari team held a meeting with the Control and Operation Centre representatives at the city of Leipzig in co-ordination with “Deutsche Bahn” – the global company in charge of running the Berlin Metro – during which fire safety hazards, standards and prevention measures were demonstrated.
On the third day, the Qatari team toured the long-distance railway connecting the cities of Leipzig and Munich, where it was taken through another tunnel evacuation drill in the city.