Doha, 22 Dec. 2021

The Qatar Railways Company (Qatar Rail) announced recently that the total number of passengers used Doha Metro during the Arab Cup, hosted by the State of Qatar from November 30 to December 18, 2021, exceeded 2.5 million passengers with average of 130,000 passengers daily.

Doha Metro provided a world-class transportation experience for the fans of the Arab Cup, as Qatar Rail has implemented unprecedented operational plans for Doha Metro in order to serve the fans of the tournament, which is considered a trial version of the 2022 World Cup.

Doha Metro operated 50,000 trips of 110 trains during the tournament which lead to 885,000 km and the average time between trains is 2.5 minutes in one line in in one direction.

While around 250,000 passengers used the metro during Qatar’s National Day, which also witnessed the holding the matches of the FAC 2021  final and the third and fourth place match.

Eng. Abdulla Saif Al-Sulaiti, Chief of Service Delivery at Qatar Rail, said: “We are proud to participate in the organizational success system of the Arab Cup and its appearance in such an honorable way. We are proud that we succeeded in gaining the confidence of 2.5 million passengers throughout the tournament period. This clearly reflects the growing confidence of residents and visitors in Doha Metro, and confirms our operational readiness to receive and serve the guests of the World Cup Qatar 2022”.

The number of staff working around the clock in the metro network and stations has reached more than 2,500 including customer service staff & stations staff responsible for running the daily operations at the station and helping the fans. In addition, 283 directional signages with stadiums names had been placed inside the stations in coordination with SCDL to provide the fans with guidance.

Ajlan Eid Al Enazi, Chief of Strategy and Business Development, Qatar Rail, said: “There is no doubt that this impressive organizational and operational success  is a result of joint efforts with our partners especially the tournament’s organizing committee, the SCDL, and other stakeholders. All these efforts played an instrumental role in delivering a successful tournament. This kind of sports tournament represented an important opportunity for us to test the operational readiness and preparations for the upcoming the FIFA World Cup Qatar2022”.

He said that  “The Arab Cup was also an exceptional opportunity to build the expertise of national talents and the know-how of Qatari competencies at the company, which contributed to giving them experience in crowd management and operational during major events. The tournament also emphasized the importance of the pivotal role that Doha Metro is now playing in enhancing the integrated public transport system by providing an effective alternative for transportation, facilitating the movement of individuals and dealing with crowds, in addition to providing multiple transportation options such as buses and vehicles within the first and last mile strategy”.

Throughout the tournament, Qatar Rail implemented a thorough crowd management plan, which ensured that the flow of passenger traffic at each station was managed effectively, starting from the train platform until they leave the station.

As part of its unprecedented preparations Doha Metro extended it operational hours, as it was 21 hours a day throughout the week, except for Friday, when the working hours which was 18 hours.

For the first time since the start of the metro operation, had the t 6 cars train on the Red Line, which contributed to doubling the capacity of the trains on that line. The entire Doha Metro train fleet, which constitutes of 110 trains were fully deployed in service during the tournament.

The Doha Metro stations is directly connected to three of the six stadiums where the Arab Cup matches were held. The fans headed to Stadium 974 through Ras Bu Abboud Station, to Education City Stadium through Education City Station, and to Ahmed Bin Ali Stadium through Al-Riffa Station. While the organizing committee of the tournament provided shuttle services to transport fans from stations to stadiums that are not directly connected to the metro network, where fans could go to Al Bayt Stadium through Lusail QNB station, to Al Thumama Stadium through the Free Zone Station, and to Al Janoub Stadium through Al Wakra Station.