December 08, 2009 -- Karlsruhe, Germany --  A country with a population of over one million people without public bus and rail transport? This is beyond our imagination, but is - still - reality in the desert state of Qatar. Both population and economy are growing fast there, and so too is the demand on public transport. They have no expertise on how an integrated transportation concept for local and long-distance transportation can be created. This is why the Qatari government is relying on experts from Germany. PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG from Karlsruhe is on the team. They are responsible for creating the strategic concept for future transportation as a so-called transportation masterplan for Qatar. 

Tom Schwerdtfeger, Member of the Board of Directors at PTV AG, is pleased: "Together with the Deutsche Bahn we have been able to export our German expertise on long-term transportation solutions to Qatar." This is a major success for the German economy. We are certain that this fructuous cooperation will continue. For example in the planning and design of the railway stations which are still to be built. With our offices in Doha and Dubai we are in the best position for further projects in the Middle East." 

The challenge lies in the very dynamic development and motorisation of the population in the region, which requires a flexible and extremely strong transportation system. 

The Urban Planning and Development Authority placed the order with PTV to develop the basis for an integrated transportation system from 2006 to 2008. This included not only the forecast of economic development and population growth, but also the design of a traffic model to estimate the effects of strategies and measures as well as the planning of transportation networks in road, public and rail transportation.

As part of the masterplan, the transportation experts from Karlsruhe developed an underground railway network for the capital city, Doha. After completion, the network is planned to consist of six tube lines running underground through the centre of the city. A fundamental part of the plan is a regional public rail transportation system. The railway lines link the developmental focal points along the east coast: airport, Doha city centre, west bay and the towns along the coast. It also creates synergies for transporting from the gas focal point Ras Laffan in the north and the processing refineries in the south of the country. 

Together with the engineering office Vössing from Düsseldorf, PTV also worked on the rail connection for the new international airport in Doha. A high-speed rail line is planned there. It will run from the airport to the city centre and over the Friendship Bridge to Bahrain. And in the future, the transportation of goods between Qatar and the border crossing to Saudi Arabia will be performed by the Doha-Express rail. 

This network planning with navigation of underground and rail lines, the location of the stations and the connection points formed the basis of work for Deutsche Bahn, whose "daughter company" DB International helped PTV to finalise and develop the plans. 

These challenging tasks were made possible, were detailed and displayed in pictures using the software PTV Vision and its modules VISUM for transportation planning and modelling and VISSEM for traffic demand modelling. Qatar can now use these planning results to make the right decisions together with Deutsche Bahn on developing the regional and long-distance transportation network. 

Background information:

Client: Transportmasterplan Qatar (TMPQ): Urban Planning and Development Authority (UPDA) Qatar

Order volume: Ca. 3 Mio. Euro

Contractor: PTV Planung Transport Verkehr AG together with DBI

Deutsche Bahn International (DBI, formerly DB Consult): Consulting, Management and Planning – complex services for infrastructure and transportation, from project development to acceptance/operation and management.

Ing.-Büro Dipl.-Ing. H. Vössing GmbH: The engineering office Vössing has been active in the field of planning and project management for transportation projects for 20 years.