Over 333,000 passengers used Doha Metro on National Day
٣٣٣ ألف راكب استخدموا “المترو” خلال احتفالات اليوم الوطني
The popularity of Doha Metro was once again visible on the Qatar National Day as record number of residents used metro trains on Wednesday to enjoy National Day celebrations. Braving cold weather and intermittent drizzles, over 333,000 passengers used Doha Metro network to reach different destinations holding Qatar National Day celebrations.
The crowd was expected as it was the first National Day after the start of preview services of all the three lines- Red Line, Gold Line and Green Line- of Doha Metro network.
Anticipating huge rush of passengers, Qatar Rail was all geared up to face the challenge with special arrangements in place. The rush was visible on metro stations since early morning, giving a glimpse of huge rush expected to follow throughout the day.
Passengers began to reach metro stations at 6.30am to reach Doha Corniche, which was the venue for National Day Parade. Many residents used metrolink service to reach stations. There were long queues for tickets at the stations but the passengers with travel cards evaded the queues. But, there was no escape from the crowd inside the trains. Only few passengers were lucky enough to get the seats while others had to complete the journey standing.
Most of the passengers were headed to Souq Waqif or DECC stations to watch National Day Parade. Access to Al Bidda, Corniche and West Bay QIC stations was restricted between 6:00am and 12:00pm on Wednesday. Qatar Rail staff was seen going extra-mile to help and guide passengers to reach their destinations.
For many passengers, Doha Metro became an important reason to attend the National Day Parade. “Parade is a big attraction of Qatar National Day celebrations, but reaching the venue by car is not an easy task because of heavy traffic. I have missed parade in the past few years, but this year I decided to watch it from the Corniche. I reached the Corniche on time because of Doha Metro. Reaching corniche was convenient and did not take much time,” said Leena Ghosh, who took morning train from Wakra Station with her group of friends to watch the parade.
With the newly opened Katara station, a large number of visitors even from as far as Al Wakrah were able to attend various cultural shows and activities organised by Katara in partnership with different entities. Many of the visitors who took the metro expressed how satisfied they were of the service reaching Katara conveniently to attend the National Day celebrations compared to previous years.
By Sachin Kumar I The Peninsula
قالت شركة الريل في تغريدة لها على تويتر إنه تم تسجيل 333 ألف راكب خلال احتفالات اليوم الوطني للبلاد، ويأتي هذا مع اكتمال التشغيل التجريبي لجميع خطوط مترو الدوحة، وأعلنت شركة سكك الحديد القطرية الريل مؤخراً عن بدء التشغيل التجريبي للخط الأخضر، الذي يمتد مــن المنصورة شـرقاً إلى الرفاع غرباً، وبهذا يبلغ عدد المحطات المفتوحة بالشبكة حاليا ضمن مرحلة التشغيل التجريبي 35 محطة موزعة على الخطوط الثلاثة، الأخضر والأحمر والذهبي، وصرح المهندس جاسم محمد الأنصاري مدير مشروع الخط الأخضر بأن التشغيل التجريبي للخط الأخضر يأتي كخطوة ضمن خطة التشغيل التجريبي التي تسعى من خلالها الشركة إلى تعريف الجمهور بشكل تدريجي على الشبكة وبناء قاعدة المستخدمين قبل التشغيل الكامل للشبكة بحلول 2020.
وتضع شركة الريل حلولاً ناجحة لتحديات النقل في قطر من خلال مشاريعها العملاقة الثلاثة، وهي: مترو الدوحة: شبكة سكك حديدية متطورة يمتد معظمها تحت الأرض لربط المجتمعات داخل العاصمة الدوحة وضواحيها، وترام لوسيل: شبكة ترام توفر وسيلة نقل مريحة وملائمة داخل مدينة لوسيل الجديدة، وسكك حديد المسافات الطويلة: يربط مدن الشمال والغرب بالدوحة، وسيكون جزءاً من شبكة السكك الحديدية المخطط لها في دول مجلس التعاون.
333000 Passengers!
— Qatar Rail (@qrc_official) December 19, 2019
On our first Special National Day, Doha Metro was proud and privileged to be part of your celebrations.
Thank you for sharing your day with us!
Changing the way we move pic.twitter.com/9jWChrEmTE
