National high-speed train to be put into service in 2025: Minister

ISTANBUL

Türkiye aims to bring its national high-speed train, which will have an engine set with eight wagons, to transport passengers in 2025, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has said.

International Railway, Light Rail Systems, Infrastructure and Logistics Exhibition-Eurasia Rail opened its doors to visitors. The fair, which took place at Istanbul Expo Center, brought together more than 200 domestic and foreign exhibitors and thousands of visitors from 16 different countries.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu and Hasan Pezük, general manager of State Railways, also attended the opening ceremony of the fair.

Speaking at the fair, Uraloğlu stated that between 2003 and 2023, serious investment, improvement, renovation and development works were carried out on the railways in the country and that approximately 880 billion Turkish Liras were invested in railways in the last 21 years.

“With our 2053 Transport and Logistics master plan, we aim to increase the number of provinces receiving high speed train service to 52. We will also increase our railway line length to 28,590 kilometers.”

Pointing out that they prioritize the national aspects of the projects, Minister Uraloğlu said that they have created a serious national railway industry in the last 21 years.

“Our national high-speed train design studies with an operating speed of 225 kilometers per hour are also continuing. We have completed 90 percent of this process and brought the work to the final design stage. We will start assembling the first prototype at the beginning of 2024. Hopefully, we aim to bring this train, which will have an engine with eight wagons, to passenger transport in 2025,” the minister added.