Doha Metro's Flagship Triple Line Interchange Station-Paper

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Msheireb is the Doha Metro’s central interchange for the Red, Green and Gold lines and one of the world’s largest underground metro stations. Its cruciform footprint extends up to 350 metres, reaches 37 metres below ground and supports a neighbouring development of buildings up to 25 storeys.<br /><br />The design faced severe space and programme constraints, complex interfaces with adjacent basements and buildings, weak and variable limestone with cavities, and a high, saline groundwater table. Temporary works combined anchored diaphragm and contiguous pile walls with open-cut excavations. Active deep-well dewatering controlled groundwater pressures, while instrumentation and monitoring checked design assumptions and ground movements. The permanent structure incorporated thick, heavily reinforced walls and slabs, 342 large bored piles designed for uplift and substantial lateral loads, and specialist columns supporting heavy development loads.<br /><br />Construction coordination was exceptional: 12 tunnel-boring machines broke through at the station, using different reception arrangements to suit the geometry and site constraints. Building Information Modelling supported interdisciplinary coordination, clash detection and assessment of construction options.<br /><br />The project delivered significant sustainability benefits. Diaphragm walls limited ground movement and excavation volumes, while open-cut methods were used where practical to save time, cost, energy and materials. Groundwater modelling reduced the total required anchor length by 20 kilometres, and temperature monitoring informed a reduction of 20,000 tonnes of early-age thermal crack-control reinforcement. The station was the first development to achieve a five-star GSAS rating, with predicted energy savings of 29%.<br /><br />The integrated design and construction effort involved more than 500 staff and produced over 6,000 drawings and 500 technical reports and calculations. Despite a workforce of around 2,000 on site daily for more than four years, construction recorded no fatalities. The experience gained also informed optimisation of later Doha Metro work packages.

Keywords

Doha Metro

Msheireb Station

underground metro station

interchange

diaphragm walls

groundwater dewatering

tunnel boring machines

Building Information Modelling

sustainability

GSAS rating