Four Istanbul train lines to be completed by end of year: Mayor Uysal

ISTANBUL – Anadolu Agency

Ongoing construction on four train lines in Istanbul will be completed at the end of this year, Istanbul Mayor Mevlüt Uysal has said.

“We want subway construction works completed fast using a new financial model. We have held meetings with the contractors and decided to continue the [construction work of] four lines for which tenders were secured. The reason for this decision was to guarantee that the four lines, on which construction work continues, would be opened by the end of this year,” Uysal told reporters in his office at the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) on Feb. 22.

The contractors have put some “rightful requests” on the table concerning red tape and stepping up the nationalization of lands, Uysal said.

“For instance, the Council of Monuments still needs to approve the Eminönü-Alibeyköy tramline project. We have been bearing the responsibility for that. When you just send out a formal letter and do not keep track of it, you may receive a response in three, maybe five months. But it is possible in five days. ‘If such problems are solved we will carry out the construction works fast,’ the contractors have said. As the IMM, we have done what we should have done on these issues,” he added.

Uysal said they had signed a protocol with the contractors in order to expedite the Göztepe-Ataşehir-Ümraniye subway line project, suggesting that Istanbul’s transportation problems could be solved once the expanding Metro Istanbul speeds up.

First opening at the end of June

According to information given by the IMM, the Eminönü-Alibeyköy tramline project will be ready by the end of the year. The journey will take approximately 35 minutes on this line, connecting the Old City to Alibeyköy coach station.

The first part of the Kabataş-Mahmutbey subway line, which covers 15 stations between Mecidiyeköy and Mahmutbey, will also be opened at the end of the year. It is planned to extend the line with four more stations to Istanbul’s Beşiktaş district, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus.

On the Asian side, the Üsküdar-Çekmeköy subway line, which currently has nine stations, will be extended from Yamanevler to Çekmeköy to include seven new stations at the end of June. Later on, the line is planned to reach Istanbul’s suburban district of Sultanbeyli in the east with eight more stations.

The nine stations between Bostancı and İMES on the Bostancı-Dudullu line will be opened at the end of the year. Once complete, the transport time between Bostancı and Dudullu will take about 14 minutes. The remaining four stations will be added to the line in the next year.