THE Turkish government is planning to increase the number of the country’s 81 provinces served by high-speed lines from 11 to 27 by 2028, according to minister of transport and infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, with the long-term objective of enabling passengers to cross the country by rail in less than 48 hours by 2053.
According to Uraloğlu, high-speed lines make up 2251km of the 14,009km Turkish State Railways (TCDD) network, which is expected to grow to 17,287km by 2028 and 28,590km by 2053.
Construction is currently underway on 4164km of new railway, including 1631km of high-speed lines:
- Halkalı - Kapıkule (229km)
- Ankara - Izmir (503.2km)
- Bandırma - Bursa - Yenişehir - Osmaneli (201km)
- Mersin - Adana - Osmaniye - Gaziantep (303km)
- Yerköy - Kayseri (140km)
- Kırıkkale - Çorum (120km), and
- Karaman - Ulukışla (135km).
At the same time, work continues on upgrade and new construction projects on the conventional network. Uraloğlu highlights the 224km new line that is being built from Kars to Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan, running via Iğdır, Aralık and Dilucu in Turkey.
According to the minister, construction of the second rail crossing of the Bosphorus is expected to begin later this year following the completion of tendering. The 126km new line will run from Gebze on the Asian side via the Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge to Çatalca on the European side.
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