IESL Qatar chapter organized a CPD session to its members on 31 October 2014 on metro rail systems presented by Eng. Shantha Weerasinghe B.Sc.Eng., C.Eng. MIHT, AMIESL . He is an active member of IESL Qatar and currently working as the Principal Engineer , Rail MEP at Hyder Consultants Qatar.

After graduating in Electrical Engineering from University of Moratuwa in 1990, Eng Shantha has served in a private firm and CEB until leaving Sri Lanka for Hong Kong in 1994. His 20 years overseas career since then has primarily been spent on mega transportation construction projects. In Hong Kong, he has been working as a senior project engineer for Balfour Beatty in the New Hong Kong Airport project and KCRC West Rail Project.

Upon joining Parsons Brinkerhoff Internationalin Taiwan, he has provided MEP design support to Taiwan High Speed Rail Project for 4 years and later joined the British consultancy W S Atkins in Dubai to lead electrical designs of Dubai Metro,Makkah Metro, Kolkata Metro UG stations, Lusail LRT prelim designs, Etihad Rail, UAE’s Al Ain MRO Aircraft Maintenance Facility, Jeddah New Airport (KAIA) etc.

He presented a well versed lecture on ongoing mega project , Doha Metro, perhaps the largest metro project currently under construction in the region. He also opened a discussion on the evolution of metro rail systems worldwide.

The Doha Metro is a rapid transit system under construction in Doha, the capital of Qatar, as well as some of its neighbouring municipalities. Upon completion, it is expected to comprise 211.9 kilometres (132 mi) of route across four lines serving 85 stations. It will be an integral component of the larger Qatar Rail network, which will include long-distance high-speed rail across Qatar, and local light rail and people mover services within Doha. Eng. Shantha also mentioned on conceptualized metro rail projects in Sri Lanka and impressed on his capacity to provide high level consultancy service for such projects on behalf of IESL, if required.