Key section of Istanbul - Bulgaria line nears completion

Testing has concluded on the 153km Çerkezköy - Kapıkule western section of the 228.4km Halkalı - Kapıkule line in Turkey.

A special event was held to make the end of the test programme and was attended by Turkey’s minister of transport and infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, together with Turkish State Railways (TCDD) general manager and chairman, Veysi Kurt.

Photo Credit: TCDD

TEST runs have been completed on the 153km Çerkezköy - Kapıkule section of Turkey’s Halkalı - Kapıkule railway, clearing the way for the first phase of the new line linking Istanbul with the Bulgarian border to open later this year.

The double-track line is equipped with ETCS Level 1 and designed for operations at up to 200km/h. Following the successful completion of testing, certification activities are expected to be finalised in time for the line to enter service before the end of 2026.

Construction is continuing on the remaining 75.4km, which is split into two sections - Halkalı - Ispartakule (8.4km) which is due to open in 2027, and Ispartakule - Çerkezköy (67km) which is expected to open in 2028. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a €250m sovereign loan to support these phases of the project with co-finance also provide by the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) of China.

The Halkalı - Kapıkule project forms a key part of the future rail corridor linking Istanbul with the Bulgarian border. It will serve as an extension of the existing 76.6km Marmaray Line, which runs under the Bosphorous Strait and will provide improved access to the city for an estimated 3.1 million people in the west of Istanbul.

The new line is also expected to deliver substantial improvements for westbound passenger and freight traffic. According to the ministry, passenger journey times between Halkalı and Kapıkule will fall from four hours to 90 minutes, while freight transit times will be reduced from eight and a half to three and a half hours. Annual passenger capacity is projected to rise from 600,000 to around three million passengers, while freight capacity will increase from 1.5 million tonnes to approximately 9.5 million tonnes per year.

As part of the project, stations at Kapıkule, Edirne, Lüleburgaz, Babaeski and Büyükkarıştıran have been modernised. Capacity at Kapıkule has also been expanded, with the station area enlarged from 253,000m² to 660,000m² and the number of tracks increased from 23 to 42, strengthening its role as a major rail logistics gateway between Europe and Asia.

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