110 metro trains will be deployed by Qatar Rail and their operations will be extended to 21 hours daily to cater to an anticipated surge in ridership during the World Cup. It expects around 700,000 daily commuters during the tournament, about six times the routine daily ridership.
“A workforce of over 10,000 people will be working for Doha Metro to ensure a smooth operation and safety and security of passengers,” said Minister of Municipality H E Dr. Abdullah bin Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Subaie, who is also Managing Director and CEO of Qatar Rail. He said train carriages running on Red Line have been increased from three to six. Al Subaie was speaking to media on the sidelines of the second town hall and stakeholders meeting under the theme of “Safe and Effective Crowd Management at Metro stations”, organised by Qatar Rail in Doha yesterday as part of its preparations for the World Cup.
Speaking at the event, Al Subaie said safe and effective crowd management at the stations is key to ensuring passenger safety and overall customer experience during the World Cup. “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.
“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,” the Minister said. He said the lessons learnt from these events have been incorporated in a systematic and controlled way to enhance performance. “Under our preparations for the tournament, we have also developed a plan for each station under our networks.”
Al Subaie said crowd management is the key success for a safe and smooth travel experience, and this cannot be achieved without close coordination, joint efforts and support of our stakeholders.
Chief of Service Delivery at Qatar Rail Eng. Abdulla Saif Al Sulaiti said yesterday’s event focused on readiness of Qatar Rail for safe and effective crowd management at metro stations during the mega sporting event.
“We are expecting from six to seven times more passengers compared to daily routine operation, amounting to about 600,000 to 700,000 passengers per day during the World Cup,” said Al Sulaiti.
The town hall was attended by Director General of SCDL & Chairman of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Executive Committee, Eng. Yasir Jamal; Acting Assistant Undersecretary of Land Transport Affairs at the Ministry of Transport, Eng. Hamad Isa Abdulla and Director of transportation Security Department at Ministry of Interior, Lieutenant Colonel Salem Al Naimi.
This meeting is one of a series of staff and management town halls and workshops held under Qatar Rail’s readiness programme for the World Cup, as Doha Metro will play an instrumental role in the tournament transport connecting fans and visitors to stadia and key destinations in Qatar.
The event started with synopsis on the importance of crowd management, then 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.
Qatar Rail MD and CEO was joined by 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 to provide a safe travel experience during these events.
