Qatar Rail has hosted the second annual Qatar Rail Theatre Festival, a three-day event that featured productions acted out by local students based on their perceptions of the railway project. 
The Qatar Rail Theatre Festival is organised in partnership with the Ministry of Transport and Communications and Ministry of Education and Higher Education. 
Held at the Qatar National Theatre, it featured three plays with students as actors from Al Markhiya Primary School for Girls, Khalid Bin Ahmed Independent School for Boys and Abdurrahman Bin Jassim Preparatory Independent School for Boys. 
The first production, titled ‘The Metro Arrived’, features a father telling his son about a reoccurring dream on how he sees Qatar in the future and his son as an elderly man using the Doha Metro.
The second production, ‘The Dreams Come True’, is about a schoolteacher and students having a discussion about the transportation sector in Qatar and how Qatar Rail will revolutionise this sector. The play ends with a scene of the children visiting the Ministry of Transport Education Centre.
The third production, ‘Rail of the Future’, is about a young Qatari man who lived in the desert. He heard many stories from his father about how travelling from place to place was difficult and so he decided to study hard, become an engineer and work on Qatar Rail projects. 
Qatar Rail managing director and CEO Abdullah al-Subaie said, “The initiative was created with Qatar’s youth in mind as a way to form their perceptions of public transport, especially as they will be the ones using the rail in the future. The next generation is a key user of Qatar Rail projects and giving them a platform to express their thoughts and feelings about this exciting project is just one of the many ways in which we intend to inspire the nation. 
“We are pleased to partner with the Ministry of Transport and Communications and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and look forward to continuing this festival annually.”
In a press statement, Qatar Rail said it strives to come up with new initiatives that raise awareness about rail projects and the various initiatives catering to different segments of the local community.
The first phase of the Doha Metro project is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2019, while completion of the Lusail Tram is set for 2020. 
By 2030, all three networks – Doha Metro, Lusail Tram and the long-distance rail, which will link Qatar with the GCC rail network – are expected to be completed.
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