On May 15, Turkey initiated an ambitious project for the modernization and signaling of the railway line Irmak-Karabük-Zonguldak.
The line connects Irmak station junction, which is located close to Ankara, with the Black Sea harbour Zonguldak in the north. The project will be constructed by a Yapi Merkezi and MON Construction Company business partnership. The European Investment Bank (EIB) has stepped up its support for smart growth in Turkey with a EUR 145 Million financing package for climate change and entrepreneurship. The cost of the entire project amounts to EUR 370 Million.
This project aims to rehabilitate and implement a signalling system for the 486 km Irmak-Karabük-Zonguldak railway line, while linking the Anatolia region with several ports on the Black Sea for freight and passenger transport.
Apart from generating significant environmental benefits, it will lead to time gains, improved security and boosted economic development. The project also has a pan-European dimension, as it links in to the extended Trans-European-Network (TEN-T) lines. The European Union is also providing a grant of EUR 190 Million to the project through its instruments for pre-accession (IPA) funds.
The project includes the complete renovation of the permanent way, substructure, bridges and culverts, the introduction of new telecommunication and signalling systems and changes to the track layout in some selected stations.
With the modernisation of this line, Turkish Railways (TCDD) plans to shift mainly freight road transportation to railways in order to alleviate the imbalance among transport modes, hence decreasing environmental repercussions of road transport and increasing safety. The line is predominantly used for freight for the steel and paper industry and a power plant. These investments will lead to a general increase in speed and quality of railway service.
With the railway transport projects developed in the past years, Turkey enjoys its position on the strategic interest map for TEN-T development.
Projects for developing high speed lines to both Central Asia and Europe are under full development. The construction of Eskişehir-Istanbul high speed line, as part of the second phase of the high speed line construction connecting Ankara to Istanbul, is under development and will be inaugurated in 2013. Ankara – Konya high speed line has been operational since August 2011. Its finalization with a speed of 250 km/h establishes a new travel time of 1h15m between Ankara and Konya, while the travel time between Istanbul and Konya will also be reduced to 3h 30m.
Works on Ankara-Sivas high speed line were initiated in 2009. This project will cut off the existing line by 141 km, from 602 km to 461 km. The travel time between Ankara and Sivas will be of 2h 51m. Moreover, studies are being elaborated concerning the high speed lines from Ankara, Izmir (594 km), Bursa-Osmaneli (106 km), Istanbul-Edirne (230 km) and Ankara (Yerköy)-Kayseri (150 km) and Bursa – Bilecik (75 km, with construction works due to begin in 2012).
Turkey has also announced plans to construct 1,500 km of high-speed railways by 2013 (some being close to finalization), as well as the construction of 4,000 km of high-speed railways until 2023.
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