Germany’s Deutsche Bahn (DB) has received prequalification documents for consultancy services for the preliminary design of the Doha metro.

Doha metro is the first part of Qatar’s $25bn railway plan to be developed and will be a crucial part of Doha’s infrastructure when it is complete. The metro will consist of four lines running 300 kilometres across the city when it is complete. However, the first phase involves building the Red line and this is designed to run from Doha city to the New Doha International airport (MEED 1:11:10).

In 2009, Deutsche Bahn signed a memorandum of understanding with local Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company to develop the design for Qatar’s railway network. This includes the metro and a freight line that will connect Ras Laffan port in the north of Qatar with Mesaieed port in the south.

How fast the project is developed is largely dependant on whether Qatar is successful in its bid to host the World Cup in 2022.