Commuters in Doha should prepare for some delays in the coming week as a busy section of Al Waab St. will be partially closed for five weeks to enable work on the Doha Metro‘s Gold Line, Qatar Rail announced.

The affected stretch of road is the eastbound carriageway, between the intersection at Al Bustan St. and the junction of Al Henwa St., just before the main interchange with the expressway.

It will close from Friday, Feb. 26 until April 1, the rail organization said in a statement on its website and Instagram page.

Diversions will be in place, using the existing service routes on Al Waab Street.

The closure is “due to works related to the Doha Metro Gold Line project. Qatar Rail would like to take this opportunity to apologize for any inconvenience the public may experience due to the road closure and diversion,” the company added.

Gold Line works

Once complete, the first phase of the Gold Line will have 11 stations and run west-east from Villaggio mall, under Al Waab street, along Al Saad street and eventually through to the northern end of the former Doha airport’s runway.

Global engineering consultancy Atkins won a $135 million contract to lead the design of this line, it announced in summer 2014.

Just three months earlier, Qatar Rail awarded Greek-led consortium Aktor a $4.4billion contract for the design and construction of the line.

At the time of the announcement, it called the project “the largest singular construction package of the Doha Metro,” and said it would take 54 months, with a completion date set for August 2018.

When the first phase of the Metro is expected to open to the public in 2019, a total of 37 stations will be operational on four lines:

• The Red Line North, running from Lusail to Msheireb via West Bay;
• The Red Line South, running from Msheireb to Mesaieed, with a branch to Hamad International Airport;
• The Green Line, running from Al Rayyan Stadium to Msheireb via Education City; and
• The Gold Line, running from Villaggio Mall to the area around the old Doha International Airport, via Msheireb.

Earlier this month, Qatar Rail said more than three-quarters of the excavation work to create tunnels for the network was already complete.

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