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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al Thani on Tuesday inspected the Economic Zone Station of the Doha Metro and took stock of the progress made in the project.
The PM also took a ride on a Doha Metro train, which carried out its first trial run through a tunnel between the Economic Zone Station and Oqba Bin Nafie Station and the upper track to Al Wakra Station. All previous trial runs were carried out on elevated tracks.
The state-of-the-art Economic Zone Station is located at the intersection of F-Ring Road and Al Wakra Road.
The completed station will be able to accommodate up to 15,000 passengers per hour and will serve as the focal point and main transport hub for the Qatar Economic Zone in Ras Bu Fontas due to its proximity with Hamad International Airport.
The PM also held a meeting with Minister of Transport and Communication HE Jassim bin Saif al Sulaiti and top officials of Qatar Rail.
Addressing media persons, Sulaiti said Doha Metro would become fully operational for the public in the beginning of 2020.
He said the Doha Metro project is 73 percent complete and work is going on in full swing to complete almost 90 percent of the project by the end of 2018.
The Doha Metro project will be fully completed in 2019, much before opening it to the public the following year, he added.
The transport minister said the Red Line is almost 93 percent complete and three of the stations on this line ” Economic Zone Station, Ras Bu Fontas Station and Al Wakra Station ” are almost complete.
The Red Line connecting Al Wakra to Lusail will be the first of the four metro lines to be completed and trial runs on the whole stretch will begin by the end of this year.
In order to complete the Doha Metro project on time, Sulaiti said the workforce on the project has been increased to 73,000.
Once fully operational, the first phase of Doha Metro will be served by 75 driverless trains, the minister said.
"Out of the 75, we have already taken delivery of 20 Doha Metro trains. Rest of the 55 trains will be delivered to us well on time," the minister said.
Each train will have three cars accommodating around 300 passengers. The new driverless range of trains is one of the fastest in the region with a speed of up to 120 km per hour.
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