Qatar Rail Celebrates Completion of Viaducts on Elevated Sections of Doha Metro Project

Doha, December 06 (QNA) - Qatar Rail has celebrated a major milestone with the completion of all viaducts across the Elevated sections of Doha Metro Project. HE Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications and Vice Chairman of Rail Steering Committee, Eng. Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie, Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee of Qatar Rail, Dr Eng. Saad Ahmed Al Muhannadi, Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Rail, as well as Project Directors and employees gathered at the ending point of the northern section of the Red Line Elevated and at Grade, where this milestone was achieved to mark the occasion. In his remarks, HE Minister of Transport and Communications and Vice Chairman of Rail Steering Committee, Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti said: "Transportation projects have made significant strides and achievements under the wise leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and follow-up and supervision of HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani." He added: "Two days ago, and six months ahead of schedule, we celebrated the inauguration of Hamad Port. Shortly before this, Qatar Rail was able to complete 111km of tunneling works on the Doha Metro project which was three months ahead of time. Today we proudly gather to celebrate another important milestone with the completion of viaducts on the Doha Metro Project three months ahead of time as well. I would also like to emphasize that the Ministry's development plans for transportation projects in general are progressing significantly." The construction of viaducts included the northern and southern sections of the Red Line and a section of the Green Line. The installation of the final segment of the viaducts was celebrated near the Doha Golf Club. Work on Doha Metros viaducts first started in August 2015. Since then a total of 8.7 km of viaducts have been completed, made up of 2,293 segments. Lifting the segments were a total of five launching girders. Massive pieces of state-of-the-art equipment, the launching girders generally span around 80m in length with a total weight of approx. 381 tons of steel. All this was achieved with minimum disruption to traffic. Speaking on the occasion, Qatar Rail's Managing Director and Chairman of the Executive Committee, Eng. Abdulla Abdulaziz Al Subaie said, "I am delighted to be present to witness this significant milestone as the final segment was lifted in to place, completing all viaducts across the Doha Metro Project. Completion of the elevated viaduct sections is yet another important accomplishment following the tunneling completion of the Doha Metro project. The viaduct completion is key, as its lines connect to significant landmarks such as Al Rayyan Stadium, Lusail Stadium, and Al Wakra City, as well as Qatar University and Lusail City in the west. In addition, it provides what will be important links between Doha, The Mall of Qatar, and Al-Riffa area. I would like to congratulate everyone involved in achieving this milestone for their hard work and dedication to a job well done. It is worth mentioning that the overall completion of Doha Metro now currently stands at 51%." Dr. Eng. Saad Ahmed Al Muhannadi, CEO of Qatar Rail also commented, "This is an incredible feat of engineering with extremely strict control required to construct such viaducts. We have used precast segments across the project, and compared to the traditional on-location casted structures there are numerous benefits including faster construction time, improved health and safety conditions, and a superior concrete quality of the precast. Great team work and expertise has been displayed and has meant that we have been able to achieve all this." Completion of the viaduct sections follows shortly on from the completion of all tunneling across the Doha Metro Project. The final breakthrough took place on the 25th September 2016 at the Doha Metro project site of Terminal One of Hamad International Airport (HIA). The final 111th kilometer was crossed by tunnel boring machine (TBM) "Msheireb" on the southern part of Red Line of this landmark mega project. The first phase of the Doha Metro is expected to be complete 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. (QNA)