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All 21 TBMs imported from Herrenknecht, Germany.

Doha Metro tunnelling work resumes at Corniche site

DOHA, June 18, 2015

Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) has announced the successful re-launch of its tunnel boring machine (TBM) at the Corniche station of Doha Metro’s Red Line, following a three-month period of intense and coordinated rehabilitation efforts.

The repair process, split into cleaning, rewiring and re-installation phases, covered the replacement of damaged equipment and approximately 80 per cent of the machinery was changed, said a statement from Qatar Rail.

The repair was carried out at a considerable speed, meaning that the initial timeline for the completion of both the Red Line and Doha Metro was unaffected, it added.

The TBM re-launch followed a flooding incident that affected its works at the Corniche station during tunnelling operations in mid-February, said the statement.

Assisted by the concerned service providers, Qatar Rail and the assigned contractor immediately contained the damage incurred on the TBM by discharging water through pumping.

Qatar Rail said owing to the rigorous health and safety standards and procedures being followed by the company and carefully devised incident management processes, there were no injuries and no environmental impact.

"We had put in place strict risk mitigation and emergency control strategies and processes before we initiated the tunnelling works for the Doha Metro. We are very aware that such a complex tunnelling project is prone to incidents of this sort and our planning processes identify what are the most likely risks and plan for them," stated Saad Ahmed Al Muhannadi, the chief executive of Qatar Rail.

"Tunnelling incidents are complex, however we were able to prove efficiency and swiftness in dealing with it," he noted.

Lauding the team for their excellent handling at Corniche station, Al Muhannadi  said: "This was teamwork and technical expertise at its best. Thanks to the prompt reaction, rehabilitation process took only three months while comparable events usually need from six months to one-and-a-half year to reach recovery."

Al Muhannadi said the incident has demonstrated the strength and effectiveness of the company’s incident management team.

Qatar Rail confirmed that it has now completed 30 km of tunnels. This represents strong progress from when it last reported on tunnelling progress in April when just under 20 km had been achieved.

On completion, the Doha Metro will boast 113 km of tunnel network.

Explaining the technical aspect, Gerhard Cordes, Red Line project manager at Qatar Rail, said: "The TBM that was boring the tunnel encountered a gate closure failure and flooding in the tunnel. We reacted immediately to the incident by discharging water through pumping, with planning for recovery and mitigation."

"Dewatering wells were installed and surface dewatering commenced in early March. An intense repair period for the TBM followed, involving general cleaning as well as tunnel preparation for removal, refurbishment, re-installation inside the TBM and electrical and mechanic cabling. It is a lengthy process that we have productively managed to complete in a remarkably short timeframe and efficient manner," he added.

Qatar Rail said it has received all the 21 TBMs assigned for the project, imported from Herrenknecht, the German world market leader in mechanised tunnelling technology.

All the TBMs are currently operational, with expectations to successfully accomplish the tunnelling phase by the second quarter of 2017.-TradeArabia News Service




Tags: TBM | Qatar Rail |

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