Qatar Rail has received four tunnel boring machines (TBMs), made by German company Herrenknecht, for Phase 1 of the Doha Metro
The four TBMs ? Al Mayeda, Al Khor, Lehwaila and Al Wakra ? will be used for the Red Line North and South underground projects, reports stated.
Each machine is 120 metres long, and 1.05 metres wide.
Al Mayeda and Al Khor would be used for the Red Line North underground, while Lehwaila and Al Wakra would be used for the Red Line South underground.
Qatar Rail said, ?TBMs are ideal for Doha; they interfere very little with life in a city. These machines need only one point of entry; can tunnel below the city streets, and are practically unknown to the population above. They are also ideal for longer lengths of uninterrupted tunnelling, as is required for the Doha Metro project.?
Each TBM is expected to hit a target of 600 cubic metres everyday and will have to excavate a total quantity of over 5,000,000 cu m. The machines would take two years to complete their respective journeys, with an average target distance of nine kilometres per day, added Qatar Rail authorities.
This project will be built and designed by a joint venture (JV) led by Italian construction company Salini Impregilo and comprise South Korea?s SK Engineering and Construction Company and Qatar?s Galfar Al Misnad Engineering & Contracting.
Doha Metro would comprise four major lines ? red, green, gold and blue, according to Qatar Rail. Red Line South Underground extends from Msheireb in the north to Hamad International Airport in the south. The scope of work for Red Line South Underground includes seven underground stations and the design and construction of about 14 km twin-bored tunnel to be built at an average depth of about 25 metres below the ground.
Qatar Rail added that additional 16 TBMs will be delivered in Qatar, which would be used for the other railway lines of the Doha Metro.
