It was a great feeling of satisfaction and pride for every resident of this country to see Doha Metro is on the right track to its completion by 2020. It was also a special moment for each person to see the beautiful structures of stations coming up so fast and later the test runs happening on the elevated track in Wakrah.
The inspection visit of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani to the Economic Zone Station near Barwa Village on Tuesday highlighted the progress and main achievements made by Qatar Rail last year and its future plans.
The details of the project and the techniques used, such as digital media and signage, latest self-service ticketing facilities, integrated travel planning, smart air-conditioning, full Wi-Fi coverage among others, can match or better any such services at present in the global transport sector.
The new fully driverless trains are among the fastest in the region, capable of speeds up to 100kmph, and will deliver a safe, reliable and fast commuter service for passengers.
The first phase of the project will be ready in 2020, when the project’s 37 metro stations are expected to be operative, with an average journey time of two minutes between adjacent stations.
With thousands of workers on site, the total number of man-hours worked exceeded 432 million in 2017 and achieved one of the lowest Accident Frequency Rates (AFR) in construction in the world.
Minister of Transport and Communications H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti said that almost 73 percent of the project is complete and has received 20 trains for the project.
Qatar Rail has also set ambitious goals this year. All remaining mechanical, electrical and plant (MEP) and architectural fit-out works will be completed this year, with overall progress to touch around 90 percent.
Doha Metro has also bagged several accolades during 2017 winning ITA Awards 2017 nominated under the category of “Major Project of the Year - More €500M”. The ITA awards are considered the highest award in the world in the field of tunneling and underground projects. For this award, the project’s scale, tight delivery time, technical complexity, among other factors were taken into consideration.
Doha Metro has also been recognised by the United Nations Underground Space organisation as the world’s pre-eminent project for 2017. The project joins the ranks of the UN’s most awarded mega projects of the word including the tunnels of the 32,690km Tibet railway in China and the Eurasia Tunnel Project in Turkey.
The remarkable achievements of Doha Metro prove that Qatar has overcome the unjust siege, which did not affect the progress of any of the infrastructure projects in the country at all.
