First tunnelling machine for Doha Metro arrives

Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) has taken delivery of the first of 21 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) and the machine is expected to start work in the third quarter of this year at the Al Wahda site, next to the Qatar Exhibition Centre.

TBM S-865, also known as Lebretha, was manufactured by Germany’s Herrenknecht and is the first of four TBMs which will be launched for the Doha Metro as part of the Red Line North Underground project.

The four TBMs that will bore the required rail tunnels for the Red Line North Underground project are named Lebretha, Al Khor, Al Mayeda and Al Bidda.

TBM Lebretha will be assembled and launched from the Al Wahda site towards West Bay Central. At West Bay Central it will be disassembled and re-assembled at Al Wahda to  travel towards Doha Golf Course. It will bore the West Tunnel of the drive while TBM Al Khor will bore the East Tunnel when it arrives.

Lebretha will dig through a distance of  7.954km, taking around 22 months to complete the job  between the third quarter of this year and the second quarter of 2016. The average speed will be between 14m/day to 21m/day, depending on ground conditions.

Each of the TBMs for the Doha Metro measures 7.05m in diameter and 120m in length. To ensure  successful transportation , Lebretha was dismantled into 22 sections, including the cutter head.

The mammoth machine began its journey by sea to Qatar and finally arrived over the weekend at the Doha Port. It will take a few months to re-assemble it into a complete machine.

The Red Line North Underground project is a design and build (D&B) joint venture that is being led by Italy’s Salini Impregilo, with South Korea’s S K Engineering & Construction Company and Galfar Al Misnad Engineering & Contracting  (ISG JV).

The scope of work for the ISG JV on the Red Line North project comprises the design and construction of 13.4km twin-bored tunnel, including seven underground stations, between the proposed Msheireb Underground Station and Doha Golf Course via Doha West Bay. The tunnels will be built at an average depth of  20m.

A further 20 TBMs will be arriving over the coming months, to be utilised not only by the Red Line North Project but also by three more projects: Red Line South – led by QDVC and comprising G S Engineering and Construction and Al Darwish Engineering receiving five TBMs; Green Line – led by PORR and comprising Saudi Bin Laden Group and Hamad bin Khaled Contracting  receiving  six TBMs and Gold Line – recently awarded to a D&B JV led by Aktor SA and comprising Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Yapi Merkezi Insaat ve Sanayi Anonim Sirketi (Yapi Merkezi), Sezai Turkes Feyzi Akkaya Marine Construction (STFA) and Al Jaber Engineering receiving  six TBMs.

All of the joint ventures delivering the D&B contracts for Qatar Rail include Qatari companies and have  been selected upon completion of a successful competitive bidding.