QATAR: Qatar Rail awarded the turnkey contract for rolling stock and railway systems on Phase 1 of the Doha metro on February 18. The winning consortium is led by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and includes Mitsubishi Corp, Hitachi, Kinki Sharyo and Thales.
In addition to undertaking overall project management and system integration, MHI will be responsible for the track, power supply, platform screen doors and tunnel ventilation.
Mitsubishi Corp and Kinki Sharyo will jointly supply 75 three-car driverless trainsets. Thales is to supply communications-based train control, telecoms, a security system, an operations control centre and an automatic fare collection system.
The contract also includes up to 20 years of maintenance. Hitachi is to undertake facilities maintenance, which includes the supply of maintenance and inspection vehicles; the company will also perform some project management duties.
Siemens and a joint venture of Ansaldo STS and CAF also submitted bids in March 2014, while Alstom and Bombardier prequalified but did not bid.
The four-line Doha metro is being built in two phases. Phase 1 is scheduled for completion by October 2019. The second phase would bring the network to 241 route-km with 106 stations, including 123 route-km underground.
