Fifteen Herrenknecht TBMs for Doha Phase One

27 February 2014


A delegation of Qatar Rail representatives visited Schwanau, Germany on Monday. The visit to the Herrenknecht factories was to inspect the first of the 15 TBMs being manufactured the German machinery giant for the Doha Metro project.

The machines have a diameter of 7m and a cutting wheel drive of 1,280kW, with a thrust force of 43,400kN. The geology will be limestone.

The visitors included Qatar transport minister Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, who was met by Martin Herrenknecht and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder.

The Qatari minister said, "Qatar holds its hopes and aspirations for the future in accordance with the Qatar National Vision 2030. One of the most important elements in fulfilling this vision is the infrastructure of the country itself. As such, we have allocated tremendous resources and a generous budget for upgrading Qatar's infrastructure, to which Qatar Rail's Doha Metro project is also included."

The EPB shields inspected were ordered by the joint venture contractor Qatari Diar Vinci Construction Grands Projets/GS Engineering /Al Darwish. The joint venture is responsible for the construction of the Red Line South, and will utilise five of the EPBMs for 34.7km of tunnel length.

The Red Line North will use four of the EPBMs over 22.7km of tunnel, and will be carried out by a joint venture of Salini Impregilo, SK Engineering and Construction, Galfar Al Misnad Engineering and Contracting.

The Red Line will handle the bulk of the national transport and connect the most important stadiums of the football World Cup in 2022.

The 32.9km Green Line, also part of the first phase of Doha Metro, will take the remaining six machines, and will be executed by a joint venture of PORR, Saudi Binladin Group, HBK, and Hamad Bin Khalid Contracting.

Qatar Rail expects all the 15 machines to be shipped to Qatar within the year. This phase will realise 90km of excavation work by 2019.