IZMIR celebrated the opening of the latest addition to its Izban suburban rail network on February 6 when the 27km extension of the Southern Line from Cumaovasi to Tepeköy was inaugurated by Turkey's transport and communications minister Mr Binali Yildirim and the mayor of Izmir Mr Aziz Kocaoglu.

RINA Services, Italy, has approved the results of interoperability testing of Huawei and Nokia's GSM-R systems operated by Turkish State Railways (TCDD).

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded CGA, a joint venture between Çeliker, Gülermak, and AŽD Praha, a contract to upgrade the 378km line from Kalin west of Sivas to Samsun.

THE European Union has agreed to provide a grant towards upgrading the main line from Kalin west of Sivas to the Black Sea city of Samsun even though Turkey is not a member of the EU.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded Indra, Spain, a €43m contract to supply a traffic management and network planning system covering 12,000km of conventional and high-speed lines.

THE prime minister of Turkey, Mr Recep Erdogan, officially opened the 245km Eskişehir – Istanbul section of the 533km Ankara – Istanbul high-speed line on July 25.

THE director general of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Mr Süleyman Karaman says construction is complete on the Istanbul - Eskisehir section of the 533km high-speed line to Ankara allowing test running to begin.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded a €10m contract to Thales to modernise the signalling and telecommunications at Eskisehir station.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded a contract to Siemens for seven 300km/h trains for operation on its growing high-speed network.

TURKISH State Railways (TCDD) has awarded a contract to Huawei, China, to install GSM-R telecommunications on the 51km suburban line linking Izmir Alsancak with Tepekoy.