Turkey to invest EUR 13 billion in new rolling stock

Interim Science, Industry and Technology Minister Fikri Işık said that Turkey aims to purchase 6,500 sets of tramcars or metro-type vehicles by 2023. “If a tramcar is purchased for around EUR 2 million, we believe the amount of total investments to be made by 2023 will be around EUR 13 billion,” Işık believes.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency, the Industry minister commented on the National Rail Vehicle Systems Development Project. He said that development of rail vehicles and CER and control systems domestically would be an advantage for Turkey and that the National Rail Vehicle Systems Development Project has been initiated with a budget of TL 1.7 billion (USD 588,408), which was taken from funds of Marmara Research Center of the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK). The project aims to develop CER motor, CER control unit and a train control and management system, which will manage all urban trains, metros and trams. The target is to complete the project by November 2016, including the site test. Işık said that they are planning to use the CER system developed on the trains of the Bursaray Duewag Metro Vehicle and Bozankaya Tramcar vehicles.