*Final phase of all Ankara-İstanbul route trials have been reached. Route will come into service in couple of months following the trials.
*TCDD General Director Süleyman Karaman: “Turkey has become a high speed train country as of 2009. With the completed and ongoing high speed train routes, Turkey’s 15 mostly metropole cities have been connected. The population of these cities add up to the half of Turkey’s population”.
*The works progressing within the frame of “Eurasia is Getting Closer: Transport Operational Programme” funded by Republic of Turkey and European Union are going to be completed by the end of 2014.
High Speed Train work to shorten the time of Ankara-İstanbul to 3 hours is continuing intensively. Different speed and capacity test trips between Eskişehir-İstanbul section of the route are going on. Test trips are foreseen to be completed at the beginning of 2014 and the route is expected to be in fully service in a couple of months.
TCDD General Director Süleyman Karaman stated that concrete steps have been taken on high speed train since 2009.
Karaman said; “Turkey has become a high speed train country as of 2009. As you know, the number of countries with HST is very low. By opening Ankara-Eskişehir route in 2009, we became the 8th in the world and 6th in the Europe. We firmed up our position by opening Ankara-Konya and Eskişehir-Konya routes in 2011. We are now making tests on the Eskişehir-İstanbul section. Of course, Ankara centred core network does not remain limited with these. Constructions of Ankara-Sivas, Ankara-İzmir and Bursa high speed train routes are going on. With the completed and ongoing high speed train routes, Turkey’s 15 mostly metropole cities have been connected in short-term. The population of these cities add up to the half of Turkey’s population”.
The works progressing within the frame of “Eurasia is Getting Closer: Transport Operational Programme” with the budget of 688 million Euro, funded by Republic of Turkey and European Union have come to an end.
Within the scope of project targeting to strengthen the railway connections between Turkey’s north and south, east and west, Europe and Asia basically; rehabilitation and reconstruction of Ankara-İstanbul Speed Train Route’s Köseköy-Gebze section has a great importance. This section of the route constitutes Turkey’s one of the busiest parts of railway network.
TCDD General Director Süleyman Karaman highlighted that the projects developed in accord with EU have a strategic importance for Turkey and her surroundings. Karaman indicated “With Marmaray’s coming into service, an important corridor regarding railway transportation between Turkey-Asia-Europe became functional. Construction of East-West national high speed train routes, modernisation of current railways, and furnishing with electricity, signalisation and telecommunication systems become more of an issue not only for Turkey but also for regional and global scale. In this regard, we are happy to work in harmony with EU on both modernisation of current railways and Ankara-İstanbul high speed train route”.
Other investments and works realised within Transport Operational Programme, which is a tangible indicator of Turkey-EU cooperation, could be lined up as; rehabilitation and signalisation of Irmak-Karabük-Zonguldak Railway having a high economic added-value, Samsun-Kalın having a critic importance on north-south connection, renewal of Alayunt-Afyon-Konya and Malatya-Narlı Railways having an important role in connecting east-west and newly-built Halkalı-Kapıkule Railway having a strategic position in connecting Asia-Europe. “Eurasia is Getting Closer: Transport Operational Programme”, is aiming to improve and develop railway transport between two continentals, besides to switch to productive and balanced transportation system.