Two of the 15 tunnel-boring machines for the Doha Metro being unveiled at Herrenknecht plant in Schwanau, Germany. PICTURE: Joey Aguilar

By Joey Aguilar

Staff Reporter

At least two of the 15 tunnel boring machines (TBMs) which will be used for the Doha Metro project are expected to be brought to Qatar by the end of July this year.

“Once the TBMs are in Qatar, it will take about three months to assemble them underground,” Qatar Rail senior programme director Markus Demmler told Gulf Times during a visit to the Herrenknecht plant in Schwanau, Germany.

Qatar’s Minister of Transport HE Jassim Seif Ahmed al-Sulaiti, former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder,   officials of Qatar Rail  and partner companies and Herrenknecht executives were present at the main plant.

The two TBMS have to be disassembled first into pieces before shipping them. The machines will be reassembled in Doha for the underground boring work.

Qatar Rail expects all the 15 machines (for the Phase 1) to be shipped to Qatar within the year. Each has a diametre of 7,050mm.

Each TBM, with a cutting wheel power of 1,120 kW, can bore about 12 to 15 metres a day. “It is safe, risk is very low and it’s like a factory underground,” Demmler said.

Earth Pressure Balance (EPB) shield is being considered for the Doha Metro, a fast tunnelling technology preferred for soft, cohesive soils with high clay and silt contents and low water permeability.

The Qatar Rail official expressed optimism that the work of the TBMs would be finished on time, citing the reliability of the technology used for one of Qatar’s major and ambitious projects.

All 15 TBMs will be used to excavate a total of about 90km for the Phase 1 project which includes Red and Green Lines. The Red Line will connect the towns of Al Khor in the north and Mesaieed in the south via Lusail, West Bay, Msheireb and the New Doha International Airport.

The joint venture QDVC/GS Engineering /Al Darwish is responsible for the construction of the Red Line South.

The Green Line follows Al Rayyan Road connecting Education City with the heart of Doha. It also links to Umm Slal and the Industrial Area South.

Beside TBMs, Herrenknecht will also supply navigation systems and six tunnel conveyors while another company will deliver 16 multi-service vehicles for the Green Line which will be used for the logistic of the tunnel work.

Herrenknecht is the only company in the world that manufactures TBMs for all ground conditions and all diameters – ranging from 0.10 to 19 metres.

Some of its projects included the New York subway (five TBMs), Guangzhou Metro (51 machines), Hamburg Hafencity, and the Delhi Metro network.

The product range comprises tailor-made machines for traffic, supply and disposal tunnels as well as additional equipment and service packages.

With 5,000 workers worldwide, Herrenknecht manufactures drilling rigs for vertical and inclined shafts as well as deep drilling rigs. In 2012 the Herrenknecht Group achieved total revenues of 1.135bn 
euros.

In a statement, Herrenknecht founder and chairman of the board Martin Herrenknecht thanked the minister, client representatives and contractors for choosing German technology.

“With our high-tech tunnel boring machines and absolute reliability we will contribute everything possible to ensuring Doha gets a metro tunnel system to the highest global standards,” he pointed out.

 

 

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