Qatar Rail awards metro contract

Qatar Rail has awarded a €1.5 billion (US$ 2 billion) design-build contract for the southern red line of the Doha Metro to a consortium made up of local developer Qatari Diar (51%) and Vinci Construction (49%). The award follows another large contract win on the Doha Metro project by an Impregilo-led consortium three weeks ago.

The QDVC consortium, which also includes Qatar's Al-Darwish Engineering company and Korea's GS Engineering and Contracting company, will be responsible for the design and construction of a 13.8 km dual-tube underground line between Doha airport and the Msheireb neighbourhood in the historic centre of the Qatari capital.

Set to run alongside the Gulf coast, one of the project's challenges will be to prevent water ingress during tunnel boring operations.

Five earth pressure tunnel boring machines with an outside diameter of 7 m will operate simultaneously. The contract also includes the design and construction of six underground stations, 51 safety connections between the tubes and three emergency evacuation shafts.

The work will take five years to complete and involve up to 3,000 people.

The red line will be the first of four planned Doha metro lines, being built under the Qatar Rail Development Program, which aims to develop transport infrastructure in Qatar, notably in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

QDVC is currently building the light rail system for the new city of Lusail north of Doha. It will be Qatar's first rail transport system.