The tunnel boring machine (TBM) working on the Red Line North of the Doha Metro project has started working again after hitting a pocket of underground water earlier this year.

When the incident happened in late February, there were fears it could have significantly delayed progress on the project. Instead, senior officials close to the project say the machine has been repaired in record time and work on the tunnels has restarted.

The flooding happened when the earth pressure balance (EPB) TBM was dipping below another metro line when it hit a pocket of water. It is understood the machine was running in open mode when it encountered the pocket and the gate to close off the ingress of water and material could not be moved into place quickly enough. The project client, Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail), confirmed at the time that the TBM and tunnel had hit a pocket of water and flooded.

A consortium of Italy’s Salini, South Korea’s SK Engineering & Construction and local Al-Misnad Galfar Engineering & Contracting won the contract to complete the underground sections of Red Line North in April 2013. 

Contractors working on other underground sections of line for the Doha Metro are watching developments closely. Sources in Doha say underground cavities are hindering the progress of the tunnelling work, and contractors are now worried that what happened on Red Line North may also happen to them.

Many of the world’s leading construction companies are working on the underground sections of Doha Metro. A consortium of Greece’s Aktor, Turkey’s Yapi Merkezi, STFA also of Turkey, India’s Larsen & Toubro and the local AlJaber Engineering is working on the Gold Line;

A team of the local/French QDVC, South Korea’s GS Engineering & Construction and the local Darwish Engineering is working on Red Line South; and a consortium of Austria’s Porr, Saudi Binladin Group and the local HBK Contracting Company is working on the Green Line.