Railway PRO at Eurasia Rail: Turkey plans to open a tender to acquire 80 high-speed trains by the middle of this year, Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım has stated, adding that the expected value of the investment will be around USD 5-6 billion.
“Our ministry has been working on a tender to buy 80 high-speed trains. This will be an investment worth around USD 5-6 billion. The tender may be held by the middle of this year,” Yıldırım announced at the Eurasia Rail international trade fair for rolling stock, infrastructure and logistics, held in Istanbul between March 3 – 5.
Looking to ease the burden on its increasingly congested highways, Turkey has stepped up efforts to construct a network of high-speed rail links over the past decade. A line between the two largest cities İstanbul and the capital Ankara was launched in 2014.
A number of foreign and local firms have been keeping their eyes on the proposed tender for 80 train sets, with Canada’s Bombardier and its local partner Bozankaya being the frontrunners so far. The two announced earlier in February they will make a USD100 million technology transfer investment in Turkey’s high-speed rail project.
Yıldırım recently stated that the government planned to connect 14 cities, encompassing 55 percent of Turkey’s population, within the high-speed train network by 2023.
Photo: Anadolu Agency
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