Qatar Rail celebrated completion of 100km of tunnelling across the Doha Metro project.
The achievement of this significant milestone means that 90% of tunnelling has been achieved, with 11km more required to complete all underground sections of the landmark project.
The 100th kilometre was crossed by a tunnel boring machine (TBM) on the southern section of the Red Line. The overall completion of Doha Metro now currently stands at 41%.
Celebrating the occasion at Al Waab Station on the Gold Line were Qatar Rail CEO Saad al-Muhannadi, and Gold Line project director Samuel Adair McChesney among other members of management and staff.
The completion of tunnelling was achieved through nearly 27mn safe man-hours.
Saad al-Muhannadi said, “While we strive to deliver our project on time and to schedule, we always aim to do so with the highest levels of occupational health and safety, to help safeguard our employees, partners and the wider public.
“We expect Doha Metro to have a transformational effect on the nation, better connecting our communities with a sustainable and environmentally friendly transportation solution. The achievement of these double milestones brings us one step closer to its much anticipated delivery.”
The daily progress across Doha Metro project is now based on 11 operational TBMs. Out of the record breaking 21 TBMs which began work on Doha Metro, and saw Qatar Rail recognised by the Guinness World Records for “The Largest Number of tunnel boring machines operating simultaneously in a single project”, 10 TBMs have since completed their sections of tunnelling and been decommissioned.
A month of significant achievement, Qatar Rail also saw the completion of tunnelling on the Doha Metro’s Gold Line with the final breakthrough on May 19 at Msheireb station. Tunnelling on the Gold Line started on March 3, 2015. The milestone was achieved by TBM Lusail which began work on its section of the line on March 31, 2015 and
covered a total of 4.3km.
The TBM Lusail started its mission at Ras Bu Abboud Station and crossed Qatar National Museum Station and Souq Waqif Station before completing its journey at Msheireb Station. Total operational length of the underground sections of the Gold Line is 15km.
McChesney said, “The TBMs set many records on their 22km journey across Doha, from the quickest TBM manufacture, delivery and launch time to the best progress for a TBM achieved in a single day of 60m. I am especially proud that the tunnels have been built to a world-class standard with the very highest standards of quality and safety being achieved on all six of the TBM tunnel drives.”
The next major milestone Qatar Rail is looking forward to celebrating is completion of tunnelling on Doha Metro’s longest line – the Red Line. Towards the end of this year, Qatar Rail expects to move from construction into systems installation as track, power supply and signalling starts to be installed. At this point it will also start to work on the architectural finishes of the stations.
The first phase of the Doha Metro project is expected to be complete in 2020.
By 2030, all the three networks – Doha Metro, Lusail Tram and the long-distance rail, which will link Qatar with the GCC Rail network – are expected to be completed.
With the completion of the first phase of the Doha Metro and Lusail Tram, Qatar Rail expects to offer 630,000 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.