Qatar Rail has taken delivery of the first of 21 tunnel boring machines (TBMs), which will dig through a distance of 8 km in 22 month for the Doha Metro.

TBM S-865, also known as ‘Lebretha’ was manufactured by Germany’s Herrenknecht, and is the first of four TBMs which will be launched for the Doha Metro as part of the Red Line North Underground project - the design and build (D&B) joint venture that is being led by Italy’s Salini Impregilo, with South Korea’s S K Engineering & Construction, and Galfar Al Misnad Engineering & Contracting.

For the Red Line North Underground project, a total of four TBMs (named Lebretha, Al Khor, Al Mayeda and Al Bidda) are proposed to bore the required rail tunnels.

TBM Lebretha will be assembled and launched from the Al Wahda site towards West Bay Central. At West Bay Central it will be disassembled and re-assembled at Al Wahda and then travel towards Doha Golf Course. It will bore the West Tunnel of the Drive while TBM Al Khor will bore the East Tunnel when it arrives.

TBM Lebretha will travel a distance of approx. 7.954 km and will take approximately 22 months to complete – between the third quarter of 2014 to the second quarter of 2016. The average speed will be between 14metres per day to 21 metres per day depending on ground conditions. And its daily excavation quantity will be approx. 680 cu m, with a predicted total excavation quantity of 5,408,720 cum.

Each of the TBMs for the Doha Metro measure 7.05 metres in diameter and 120 metres in length, therefore to ensure transportation was successfully managed, TBM Lebretha was dismantled into 22 sections which were easier to transport including the cutter head.

It commenced its journey, by sea, to Qatar and finally arrived over the weekend at the Doha Port. Some residents may have seen the sections of TBM Lebretha travelling along Al Corniche earlier this week making their way from the Doha Port to the first launch site of Al Wahda, next to the Qatar Exhibition Centre.

Qatar Rail extends its appreciation and special thanks to Qatar Rail team working on the Red Line North project, and also to the Doha Port team that unloaded the sections; the Customs Department for their quick response in clearing all necessary formalities; and to the Civil Defense which safely escorted the sections to the Al Wahda construction site.

It will take a few months to re-assemble TBM Lebretha into a complete machine and Qatar Rail will provide regular updates in the newspapers and on its corporate website qr.com.qa – on the progress and every time a new TBM is delivered, a statement said.

The scope of work for the ISG JV on the Red Line North project comprises the design and construction of approx. 13.4km twin-bored tunnel, including seven underground stations, between the proposed Msheireb Underground Station and Doha Golf Course via Doha West Bay. The tunnels will be built at an average depth of approx. 20 meters below ground.

The arrival of a further 20 TBMs will be seen over the coming months, to be utilised not only by the Red Line North Project but also by three more projects:

•    Red Line South – led by QDVC and comprising G. S. Engineering and Construction and Al Darwish Engineering – will receive 5 TBMs.

•    Green Line – led by PORR and comprising Saudi Bin Laden Group and Hamad bin Khaled Contracting – will receive 6 TBMs.

•    Gold Line – recently awarded to a D&B JV led by Aktor SA and comprising Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Yapi Merkezi Insaat ve Sanayi Anonim Sirketi (Yapi Merkezi), Sezai Turkes Feyzi Akkaya Marine Construction (STFA) and Al Jaber Engineering – will receive six TBMs.

All of the Joint Ventures delivering the D&B contracts for Qatar Rail include Qatari companies and have all been selected upon completion of a successful competitive bidding. – TradeArabia News Service