“In the next five years, Turkey will allocate over USD 46 billion (EUR 39 billion) to railway transport, either conventional or high speed”, Turkish Minister of Transport, Ahmet Arslan, announced.
Turkey plans to electrify its entire railway network, but also to increase the efficiency of railway transport to a maximum level by 2023.
“In the past 15 years, Turkey invested USD 25 billion (EUR 18.5 billion) in the national railway network, including in the high-speed transport network”, added Minister Arslan. He declared this while attending the UIC Highspeed 2018 event, organised by the International Union of Railways (UIC) together with Turkish Railways (TCDD) on 8-11 May in Ankara.
Currently, the Turkish high-speed railway network measures 1.213 km.
“We are in full process of building another 3.798 km of high-speed railways, while a total of 11.582 km of conventional railways are in the design or planning phase”, added Minister Arslan, quoted by Anadolu state agency.
Turkey ranks second, after China, as regards the construction of high-speed railways reported to the surface of its territory. Moreover, the state plans to complete 11.700 km of high-speed railways by 2023 and thus to provide railway connection between 41 cities.
İsa Apaydın, Director General of TCDD, said that, at the moment, the international high-speed railway network totals 41.000 km and that the figure is expected to double in the following years.
“High-speed trains are the engine of the Industry 4.0, they ensure the productivity of all economic sectors”, pointed out İsa Apaydın.
In turn, Renato Mazzoncini, Chairman of UIC and CEO of Italian Railways (Ferrovie dello Stato) said that 1.6 billion passengers a year use high-speed trains all over the world.
“These trains are transforming not just tourism and economy, but also the citizens’ lifestyle”, added Mazzoncini.
Photo: Anadolu Agency
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