TURKEY’s minister of transport and infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, presided over a ceremony on May 30 to mark the hand over to national rail operator TCDD Taşımacılık of a range of new generation rail vehicles designed and produced by Türasaş at its production facilities in Eskişehir, Sakarya and Sivas in cooperation with more than 100 domestic suppliers.

The first five of 95 E5000 25kV ac locomotives to be produced for TCDD Taşımacılık were on show. Uraloğlu says Türasaş will deliver another 15 locomotives this year. “We will complete the production of the 95 locomotives by producing 30 locomotives in 2026 and 45 locomotives in 2027,” Uraloğlu announced.

“Our E5000 National Electric Locomotive, produced in our facilities in Eskişehir, has been made for the first time for a mainline locomotive with 100% domestic and national design,” Uraloğlu said. This includes the traction converters, traction control unit, central control unit, and transformer.

The E5000 has a maximum output of 5MW and a top speed of 140km/h. It is suitable for hauling both freight and passenger trains. Uraloğlu said the E5000 locomotive is designed to meet the European Union’s Technical Specification for Interoperability (TSI). He pointed out that each of the traction motors has an output of 1.28MW, making them the most powerful traction motors designed in Türkey to date.

EMUs

The first three New Sakarya national EMUs with a top speed of 160km/h entered service between Adapazarı and Gebze in 2023. Two more trains have now been completed for TCDD Taşımacılık. Another 17 sets will be produced by the end of 2026, followed by 34 trains by 2020.

Uraloğlu said production started of Turkey’s first 225km/h train in February. He says Türasaş plans to produce14 of these trains between 2026 and 2028.

Türasaş has completed the first two 700T battery-powered shunting locomotives, which are designed for low-speed, short-distance shunting at stations, depots and terminals. The zero-emission shunter is expected to have low operating and maintenance costs compared with diesel shunters. Series production of six units is currently underway.

Finally, the fire extinguishing and rescue wagon developed by Türasaş is designed for rapid and effective response in emergencies. The wagon has a water capacity of 92 tonnes, which Uraloğlu says is equivalent to 42 fire trucks and nine tankers, and a foam spraying capacity of 4m3, equivalent to the capacity of 20 fire trucks.

Expansion

Uraloğlu also gave a brief update on the expansion of the national network. “Our railway network, which was approximately 11,000km in 2002, has reached 13,919km today, 2251km of which are high speed lines,” he said.

Uraloğlu added that construction is continuing of the follow high-speed projects: Halkalı - Kapıkule, Ankara - İzmir, Bandırma - Bursa - Yenişehir - Osmaneli to connect with the Istanbul - Ankara high-speed line, Mersin - Adana - Osmaniye - Gaziantep in the south and from Yerköy on the recently completed Ankara - Sivas line south to Kayseri.

“We aim to increase our railway network to 17,500km by 2028,” Uraloğlu said. “However, our goal is not only to expand our railway network; but also to produce every vehicle and every component to be used on this network with local and national resources.”

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