Turkey to invest over $46 bln on railways in five years: Minister

ANKARA

Turkey will invest 39 billion euros ($46.4 billion) on railways in the next five years, Transport Minister Ahmet Arslan said on May 8. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the 10th World Congress on High-Speed Rail, Arslan said: “Our target is to transform all our lines to electrically operated ones and raise our productivity to the maximum level until 2023.”

In the last 15 years, Turkey has invested 18.5 billion euros ($25 billion) on its railways, including high-speed trains, he added.

He noted that a 1,213-kilometer (753.7-mile) high-speed railway line was in operation in Turkey.

“The construction of 3,798 kilometers [2,400 miles] of the railway is underway and 11,582 kilometers [7,196 miles] ofrailway projects are in the process of auctioning and planning,” he said, as quoted by state-run Anadolu Agency.

The minister said high-speed trains serve 33 percent of the country’s population in seven cities.

“Turkey is the second-largest country after China in railway constructions. Our target is to complete 11,700 kilometers (7,270 miles) of high-speed railway lines until 2023 and to link 41 cities to each other,” said Arslan.

İsa Apaydın, director general of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), said there are 41,000 kilometers (nearly 25,500 miles) of high-speed railway lines in the world and the figure will nearly double in the coming years.

“High-speed trains are the motor power of Industry 4.0, they provide productivity for all areas,” he said.

Renato Mazzoncini, the president of the International Union of Railways (UIC), said 1.6 billion passengers use high-speed trains annually.

“These trains not only change tourism andeconomy, they also change people’s lifestyle,” he added.

The congress, organized by the UIC and TCDD under the patronage of the prime ministry, will end on May 11.

Over 1,000 high-speed rail experts from all around the world will meet in the congress themed “sharing knowledge for sustainable and competitive operations.”

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