Qatar Rail boosts co-operation with security entities

As part of its efforts to boost integration and co-operation with security and government entities, Qatar Rail received a team of engineers from the Qatar Armed Forces’ Emiri Corps of Engineers recently at the Al Waab station site on the Doha Metro Gold Line.Qatar Rail also held a fire safety mock drill in co-ordination with the Ministry of Interior’s Civil Defence and Green Line contractors.During their visit to the Al Waab station construction site, the Qatar Armed Forces’ Emiri Corps of Engineers, along with Qatar Rail representatives and the Doha Metro Gold Line contractor, were briefed on the project.After a demonstration of safety instructions, the team members visited the metro tunnel connecting the Al Waab and Al Sudan stations. Later, they visited the site of the Al Sadd station where the members made a close examination of the tunnel-boring machine (TBM).Meanwhile, the joint fire safety mock drill organised in co-operation with the Civil Defence and Green Line contractor was held at the Doha Metro Switchbox underground site near the Green Line’s Al Massila station. A team from the Civil Defence supervised the Green Line contractor safety experts as they conducted the mock fire drill. The drill aimed to train the labourers in safety procedures and prepare them for emergencies.Qatar Rail executive director (Technical Interface Department) Hassan Ahmed al-Hamed al-Marwani said, “Both activities had positive results. Since the early stages of our project, we at Qatar Rail have involved all State security entities concerned in the Doha Metro project. This is because their involvement in our activities has significantly contributed to the emergency and evacuation planning processes during the construction and operation phases.”Qatar Rail recently completed more than 100km of tunnelling across the Doha Metro project. The achievement of this significant milestone means that 90% of tunnelling has been achieved with only 11 more kilometres required to be completed underground.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 is expecting to move from construction into systems installation as track, power supply and signalling start to be installed. At this point, it will also start to work on architectural finishing at Doha Metro stations.