Delayed for a long period of time, due to very important archaeological discoveries, today construction works at the Marmaray project are progressing rapidly. According to the estimates of the Turkish Minister of Transport Binali Yildirim, the opening of the tunnel under the Bosporus Strait is scheduled for the beginning of 2014. The first tests of the Marmaray rail project, which crosses the Bosporus Strait providing a rail connection between Europe and Asia, were conducted on 4 August.
Two different high-speed railways will provide connection to the Marmaray Tunnel, so the city will have an additional 63 km of rail lines. The total cost of these projects that connect the two railway lines to the Marmaray Tunnel amounts to TRY 9 Billion (EUR 3.5 Billion).
Moreover, Baku-Tbilisi-Kars route will be connected to Marmaray Tunnel allowing direct transport from Azerbaijan to Europe, said Binali Yildirim, Turkey’s Minister of Transport, who joined Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at the first official tests for the Marmaray Tunnel. The project on the tunnel under the Bosporus Strait, part of Marmaray, is considered the project of the century and has a major importance due to its direct railway connection between Europe and Asia. The project will include the construction of a 1.3km completely submerged tunnel of a total 13.6 km of tunnel. The existing railway line between Halkali, on the European side and Gebze, on the Asia side, will be fully upgraded and the number of lines will be increased to three. Two lines of this route, covering a total of 76 km, will provide urban transport services and other lines will be used by high-speed trains.
The city of Istanbul, just like many other big cities, is suffocated by intense traffic and pollution, and the few transport systems to deal with such a high transport demand (around 12 million people travel daily in and through Istanbul) are also an impediment. But Marmaray Project is about to solve part of the traffic problems in the city on the bank of Bosporus. It will reduce car dependency, the consumption of energy from own resources, and will limit the import of fuels. It is estimated that the travel time between Istanbul and Ankara will be reduced by up to 3 hours.
The project is financed by the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) – USD 950 Million and the European Investment Bank (EIB) – EUR 650 Billion.
The estimates of the Turkish Ministry of Transport show that 1.5 million citizens will use the Marmaray Tunnel in their daily journeys in 2015 and their number will increase up to 1.7 million by 2025.
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“1,086 km of new line were built from 2004 to 2012 and 3,434 km of new line are currently in construction. Apart from these projects, Eskişehir-İstanbul section of the high-speed line Ankara-İstanbul will be commissioned on 30 September 2013 together with the Marmaray Project that will link Europe to Asia. Works on Ankara-Sivas high-speed line are also underway. Other projects underway are the high-speed lines Ankara-Bursa and Ankara-İzmir. We also have other works underway, such as the rehabilitation of conventional lines and the improvement of the geometrical standard of these lines through maintenance and through the modernisation of the rolling stock fleet”, declared Süleyman Karaman, the General Manager of TCDD in an interview for the February issue of Railway Pro.
Turkey is currently renewing its rail transportation system within the framework of a new development plan. Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım announced that at least 2,500 kilometres of high-speed rail line would be built in the next five years to connect 14 different cities.
Moreover, Turkish Railways announced the intention to organise “a record tender of TRY 6 Billion (EUR 2.3 Billion) in a bid to buy new trains”, according to the declarations of TCDD General Manager Süleyman Karaman. He also said that the tender, which had passed the Development Ministry’s approval and was awaiting a last green light from the Council of Ministers, could be launched in two-three months.
Through complex investments and railway transport development projects, Turkey seeks not only to boost the national economy (which has recorded remarkable growth over the past four decades ranking 16th in the world and 6th in Europe), but also to get closer to the European Union, a union that the neighbouring country wishes to access.
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