Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) has awarded UAE-based L&T Electrical & Automation a QR278m ($76.4m) contract for the supply, maintenance and five-year operation and maintenance of a building automation and control system (Bacs) for 37 stations of the under-construction Doha Metro.

The frame agreement entails nine contracts with design and build contractors for the stations and tunnels across the three metro lines.

A building automation and control system is increasingly being utilised by buildings to foster higher energy efficiency, lower operating and maintenance costs, and better indoor air quality, among others.

The system to be implemented in the first phase of the Doha Metro will control and supervise mechanical, engineering and plumbing (MEP) systems. It will also acquire and monitor MEP equipment status and alarms, provide third-party interfacing services, storage and offline and online analysis of MEP systems acquired data, enable testing and commissioning of MEP systems.

It will interface with the MEP systems and sub-systems like station air conditioning systems, special ventilation system for life safety, fire-fighting system, low-voltage (LV) power systems and lighting systems at stations and tunnels.

Construction work on the first phases of the Doha Metro and Lusail tram is expected to be completed between 2018 and 2019, with commercial operations expected to begin in 2020, two years prior to the staging of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in Doha.