Türkiye, UAE discuss building railway

ISTANBUL

Abu Dhabi wealth fund ADQ and Türkiye are in talks to build a railway over Istanbul’s Bosporus strait as part of a planned trade corridor linking Europe to the Middle East and Asia, Turkish officials familiar with the matter have told Bloomberg.

The railway would cross the Yavuz Sultan Selim suspension bridge, according to the news service.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s visited the Gulf nation this summer. During the president’s visit, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced a three-year investment plan totaling nearly $51 billion.

A UAE official said, in a statement to Bloomberg, that they hoped bilateral trade with Türkiye would double to $40 billion by 2030 and that key sectors for investment included energy, logistics, tourism and agriculture.

Türkiye is to link Gulf nations to its railway and highway network, the people said, adding that the railway could be followed by other infrastructure projects to support that ambition in future.

Last month, Erdoğan revealed discussions regarding a corridor agreement made with Gulf states during the G-20 summit in India.

"We are talking about a corridor to Europe through Iraq, Qatar, the UAE and Türkiye," he told journalists on board the return flight from New Delhi.

His UAE counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, expressed a strong desire to expedite negotiations and commence construction within two months, Erdoğan said, adding that he gave the necessary instructions to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu.

Turkish officials previously said that the UAE would also be interested in the metro projects in Istanbul as well as the Ankara-Istanbul “super high-speed train” project.

The new high-speed train will run from Ankara’s Sincan district to Istanbul through the Yavuz Sultan Selim bridge and one lane on the bridge will be used for the train, they said.