Minister approves tender for cosmodrome-like train station

Ankara – Anatolian News Agency

The new high-speed train station will be connected to the old stationand will have a five-star hotel. AA Photo

Turkish Minister of Transport, Binali Yıldırım, approved the tender for the high speed train station in Turkey’s capital city of Ankara yesterday. The ministry is expected soon to invite the winners of the tender, the Limak-Kolin-Cengiz consortium, also taking part in the winner consortium of the Istanbul’s 22.1 billion euros third airport tender.

The tender for the Turkish State Railways’ (TCDD) Build-Operate-Transfer model project was postponed several times following the initial tender date on Jan. 20, 2011. This was mainly due to demands by investors, regarding the tender specification, that the subway line run under the proposed station, which led to additional plans to accommodate these technical details.

The controversial tender was finally opened on August 2012 and only the Limak-Kolin-Cengiz consortium placed a bid. The only consortium to submit a bid at the tender will operate the station for 19 years and seven months.

The new high-speed train station is expected to have an annual capacity of 15 million passengers and to look like a “cosmodrome,” with the capacity of 12 high speed train sets when completed. The station will be connected to the old station and will have a five-star hotel and various restaurants and coffeehouses.