Over the next three years, Turkish Railways plans to invest over TRY 20 Billion (EUR 8.4 Billion) in transport projects. Investments will be aimed at speeding up the liberalization of state railways. Prior to the sale, the General Directorate of Turkish Railways (TCDD) plans to invest TRY 20 Billion in the production of rolling stock, but also in rail transport-related projects. The amount will be invested between 2013 and 2015.
The announcement was made during the “Eurasia Rail Rolling Stock, Infrastructure & Logistics” International Fair held on 7-9 March in Istanbul.
The third edition of the international fair, organized on two plans, exhibition of railway products and theme conferences, has hosted 287 companies of 25 countries pertaining to the Eurasian platform. Therefore, companies from countries such as Azerbaijan, the Czech Republic, Bulga-ria, Iran, Georgia, Spain, Romania, France, Greece, Turkmenistan, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Russia, South Korea, Serbia, Ukraine, Poland, Slovenia, USA and Turkey, of course, presented their products at the fair. The main categories of the exhibition focused on railway technology, train interiors, railway infrastructure, public transport, heavy industry, IT in transport, freight transport logistics and financial services. Club Feroviar was also one of the exhibitors of this year’s edition of the fair in Istanbul where it presented to visitors its broad range of railway business consultancy services.
Apart from the exhibition itself, Eurasia Rail also hosted theme conferences where the main topics included the effects of railway restructuring on the sector and transportation, rapid freight transport, the Istanbul traffic and railway transport after the Marmaray Project, the pricing of railway freight transport, railway safety, advances in rail vehicle technology, advances in substructure and superstructure technology.
“1,086 km of new line were built from 2004 to 2012 and 3,434 km of new line are currently in construction. Apart from these projects, Eskişehir-İstanbul section of the high-speed line Ankara-İstanbul will be commissioned on 30 September 2013 together with the Marmaray Project that will link Europe to Asia. Works on Ankara-Sivas high-speed line are also underway. Other projects underway are the high-speed lines Ankara-Bursa and Ankara-İzmir. We also have other works underway, such as the rehabilitation of conventional lines and the improvement of the geometrical standard of these lines through maintenance and through the modernisation of the rolling stock fleet”, declared Süleyman Karaman, the General Manager of TCDD in an interview for february issue of Railway Pro.
“Turkey has lately showed special interest in investing in railway infrastructures and this can be noticed in the positive results with the introduction of high-speed trains and in the development of as many km of high-speed railways as possible. We believe we will have 10,000 km of high-speed railways by 2023. Over the past years, the Turkish Government has significantly increased investments in railway transport, both freight and passengers, so that in 2012 the state investments amount to TRY 25 Billion.
Nevertheless, we know it is not enough yet and we have to allocate more financial resources. By 2023, we plan to invest TRY 45 Billion”, pointed out Binali Yıldırım, the Turkish Minister of Transport.
USD 50 Billion investments in infrastructure until 2015
Through complex investments and railway transport development projects, Turkey seeks not only to boost the national economy (which has recorded remarkable growth over the past four decades ranking 16th in the world and 6th in Europe), but also to get closer to the European Union, a union that the neighbouring country wishes to access.
“Sooner or later, the European Union will accept Turkey as indispensable partner”, added Minister Yıldırım.
By the end of 2013, Turkey could adopt a new railway transport law to permit the liberalisation and reform of the railway sector and, of course, the implication of the private sector in the freight and passenger transport.
“The normative act proposal was submitted to the Parliament and a decision is expected. If the law is approved by Turkish Railways (TCDD), it will be restructured on freight, passenger and infrastructure transport segments. Also, the rail infrastructure maintenance activity will also be restructured, but it will still be managed by TCDD. After liberalisation, the Turkish railway sector will be fully opened. We want to apply in the national legislation the examples of EU member states. Therefore, we will have a regulation on the infrastructure access charging, a railway safety regulation and we will make sure that the private sector will be integrated into the Turkish railway market. Moreover, the legislation which regulates the activity of engine drivers will be implemented according to European standards”, said during the conference Erol Çitak, the General Manager of the Railway Regulatory Authority (Demiryolu Düzenleme).
İsa Apaydin, Deputy Director of Turkish Railways – TCDD, talked about the company’s plan to develop high-speed railway transport stressing the fact that Turkey speeded up works on the railway lines Kosekoy – Gebze and Ankara – Sivas.
At the end of March, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated the third high-speed line Eskişehir – Konya. The new line forms a network of the high-speed lines between the three big Turkish cities: Ankara, Eskisehir and Konya. “We have managed to build 137 km per year from 2004 to 2012 and the total number of km built is 1,094 km of line”, pointed out the Turkish PM who assured that works to other two important projects, Marmaray Tunnel and Baku – Tbilisi – Kars line, would also be accelerated.
During the inauguration of the Eskişehir – Konya line, Turkish Economy Minister Zafer Çaglayan promised a USD 50 Billion investment on the country’s physical network of railway lines, bridges and stations — which will remain in state hands — by 2015. That in turn would seem like an attractive deal for private firms that may be hesitant about operating on an outdated network and strengthens the argument that Ankara is betting that it can facilitate a more efficient transportation system based on railways.
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