Satyendra Pathak
Doha
More than 10,000 personnel will be working for Doha Metro to manage its operations and massive crowd during the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar Rail Managing Director and CEO HE Dr Abdulla bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie revealed on Tuesday.
Talking to Qatar Tribune on the sidelines of Qatar Rail’s second town hall meeting, Subaie said, “There will be 110 trains running 21 hours every day throughout the World Cup. We will increase the frequency of trains and the number of cars to manage commuters. On the red line earlier there were three cars on the train, now we are running six cars in one train.”
Subaie said that the number of commuters during the World Cup is expected to rise six times compared to what it is today.
According to anestimate, between 500,000 to 700,000 passengers are expected to use Doha Metro per day during the FIFA World Cup.
Subaie said that safe and effective crowd management at the stations is key to ensuring passenger safety and overall customer experience during the World Cup.
“Today we are talking about safety as the most important thin g. Our main focus today is on crowd management. We are working to provide safety and distinguished services to all commuters during the World Cup,” he said.
Subaie also revealed that the expansion work of Doha Metro will continue after the 2022 FIFA World Cup to ensure wide coverage in the city and to increase daily patronage.
As part of its readiness for the World Cup 2022, Qatar Rail held its second town hall and stakeholders meeting under the theme of “Safe and Effective Crowd Management at Metro stations”.
As Doha Metro will play an instrumental role during the World Cup connecting fans and visitors to stadia and key destinations in Qatar, Subaie said, Qatar Rail is making all preparations to make the mega sporting event a huge success.
Earlier during the town hall meeting, Subaie said, “This meeting comes as we are less than two months away from the start of the World Cup 2022. Qatar Rail is on track with its readiness and preparations for this event, as the Doha Metro is a key component in the integrated transport plan for this global event hosted by Qatar.”
“The Doha Metro started operations in 2019. Our state-of-the-art driverless system was specifically designed and built to handle large numbers of passengers and to handle major events. The Doha Metro has already been tested through several large events. We have incorporated the lessons learnt from these events in a systematic and controlled way to enhance performance. Also, under our preparations for the tournament we have developed a plan for each station under our networks,” he said.
“The World Cup stands amongst the largest and most important sporting events in the World and the eyes of the whole world will be upon us. Our performance reflects directly on how the world will see Qatar and the success of this most prestigious event,” he said.
He said, “The Supreme Committee led and coordinated the huge number and variety of projects and initiatives needed to make this event a success.The Doha Metro started operations in 2019. Our state-of-the-art driverless system was specifically designed and built to handle large numbers of passengers and to handlemajor events.
“From the beginning, the system has shown itself to be safe, reliable, and efficient – setting the benchmark against which other systems are measured. Customer service remains at the heart of all we do. Our mission is always to put our customers first, this goal has driven our performance from the outset and continues to guide us still.”
He said, “Hosting any major event requires coordination across a broad and complex landscape of stakeholders. Crowd management is the key to success for a safe and smooth travel experience, and this cannot be achieved without the close coordination, joint efforts and the support of our stakeholders such as the Supreme Committee, Ministry of Interior, Mowasalat, and others.”
He said, “It gives me enormous pleasure to welcome you all here today. We are pleased to bring distinguished experts together with our team and our key partners and stakeholders.
“With us today are railway industry leaders from SNCF, Keolis and RATP. They will share their knowledge and experiences with us and we are grateful to them for their participation.”
“Our teams have worked closely together to prepare ourselves, share ideas, solve problems and, above all, ensure our collective readiness. We have developed an understanding of each other’s operations, what is needed each from the other, and strengthened the already deep mutual respect we have for each other,” he said.
In all this, he said, “The Supreme Committee has been instrumental in driving collaboration and alignment between stakeholders and steering all our collective preparations both large and small. No challenge has been too great and no detail too small to attend to.”
The event started with a synopsis of the importance of crowd management followed by a panel discussion which addressed four key topics: crowd management at events, management of key risks, emergency preparedness, and crowd controls in place for the World Cup 2022.
Subaie was joined by the senior panellists from SCDL, MoI, MoT and railway experts from RKH shareholders companies to discuss the session’s key topics and highlighted the importance of crowd management in the success of major events and provide a safe travel experience during these events.
The panel was followed by a presentation on the Role of Operation of the Metro Command and Control Centre which gave an overview of the centre’s role in crowd management.
RKH, which is responsible for operating and maintaining Doha Metro and Tram Lusail networks, works hand in hand with Qatar Rail to ensure safe and effective crowd management at the stations and ensuring the delivery of a seamless and a safe travel experience during the World Cup 2022.
In July 2022, Qatar Rail organised its first town hall staff, stakeholders, and consultants meeting, under the theme of “Transport Management for Mega Events”, which included several sessions on the readiness of Doha Metro services for major events, and the main challenges of hosting the upcoming World Cup Qatar 2022.
The town hall meeting was also attended by Yasir Jamal, director general of SCDL and chairman of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Executive Committee, Hamad Isa Abdulla, acting assistant undersecretary of Land Transport Affairs at the Ministry of Transport and Lieutenant Colonel Salem Al- Naimi, director of transportation Security Department at Ministry of Interior.
