A consortium made up of Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Corporation, Hitachi and Kinki Sharyo, as well as France’s Thales has received a letter of conditional acceptance from the Qatar Railway Company for the systems package of the Doha metro.

The contract involves turnkey construction of a fully automated driverless metro system.

Included are 75 sets of three-car trains, platform screen doors, tracks, a railway yard, and systems for signalling, power distribution, telecommunications and tunnel ventilation.

The package is also expected to include 20-year maintenance services for the metro system after its completion.

Leading the consortium, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, will supply the power distribution system, platform screen doors, tracks and tunnel ventilation work, as well as assume all project management and system integration work.

Mitsubishi Corporation and Kinki Sharyo will jointly provide the railway cars, while Thales will supply the Communications Based Train Control (CBTC) signalling, telecommunications and security, integrated operational control centre and automatic fare collection systems.

Meanwhile, Hitachi will perform some project management duties and also handle facilities management, including the supply of special maintenance vehicles.

The Doha Metro, which is due for completion in 2019, will comprise a 211-kilometre network with 85 stations. Qatar Rail has also said the project is likely to provide jobs for 20,000 employees at peak construction.