Okaz With the onset of the rainy season, we are witnessing a crisis of tunnels. Two of the tunnels in Riyadh city sank as a result of heavy flooding late last month. If we examine the Riyadh Metro project, which is expected to finish and open for public transport in three years, we can find that the subway trains would be passing under these tunnels, according to the architectural plan. I imagined a scene when the project completes with the same amount of rain and trains passing through tunnels submerged in floodwater. I also imagined flash floods forcing a train filled with thousands of passengers moving through the same tunnels to halt in the middle. When a motorist is stuck in floodwaters, he could easily desert the car and escape, which is what happens now most of the time. But what about the metro assuming that it is an electrical one, which will face, as we all know, weather challenges such as extreme temperatures, rain and sandstorms. I take it for granted that people responsible for the metro project are aware of these challenges and did not miss any of them. But what about trains passing through the tunnels that turn into swimming pools at the first sight of rain? I don't want to imagine and create more scenarios of what would happen in the future because I wish that by the time the subway system came into service, the city's drainage problems would end, unless the conditions, God forbid, would continue to be the same as they are today. If it did not, the loss of life and property would be severe and I hold Ar-Riyadh Development Authority, which is the supreme body responsible for the metro project, accountable for what would happen to the metro if the conditions remained as they are. I do not want to imagine tunnels bursting with cars buried in the rubble. Any excuses would not be acceptable for such a scenario unless its causes were beyond our control and above our limitations. However, this was not exactly the case when the tunnels absorbed and distributed all the rainwater when they were expanded and developed in accordance to Plan A, B or C. In the absence of necessary precautions, engineers are the ones who know beforehand what would be the fate of the metro, which is still being constructed. Everything is in the hands of the engineers now and what they need to do is only to coordinate with the Ministry of Transport and discuss all possible scenarios. We are talking about a metro that should be completed within three years, not today or tomorrow. Time is on our side and we can find adequate solutions for all the problems, which are not beyond human control.
