The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Uraloğlu, stated that railway transportation will be promoted.

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The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, stated that 93 million passengers have been transported by high-speed trains (YHT) to date, saying, "With our new projects, we will provide our citizens with more comfortable and faster transportation."

NEW INVESTMENTS IN RAILWAYS ARE COMING

Emphasizing that passengers can reach 11 cities directly by YHT, Uraloğlu said, "We have approached railways as a state policy with the development initiatives we started in 2002 and identified it as a priority sector. By embracing the vision of 'the iron network covering our homeland,' we have enabled our passengers to travel to Istanbul, Ankara, Sakarya, Kocaeli, Konya, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Karaman, Kırıkkale, Yozgat, and Sivas by YHT."

Uraloğlu expressed that they have initiated a new leap in railways to transform the opportunities provided by Turkey's geographical location, which serves as a bridge between Asia and Europe, into economic and commercial advantages, stating that they have raised their investment plan target in this area.

93 MILLION PASSENGERS HAVE BEEN TRANSPORTED BY YHT SO FAR

Uraloğlu drew attention to the development of railway passenger transportation in Turkey, continuing: "We have transported 93 million passengers with YHT so far. In 2023, 11.9 million passengers traveled with these trains, and we expect this number to reach 12.4 million in 2024. Currently, the total length of railway lines in our country is 13,919 kilometers. Of this, 11,668 kilometers are conventional, and 2,251 kilometers are high-speed trains."

THE SHARE OF RAILWAYS IN TRANSPORTATION WILL BE INCREASED

Uraloğlu reported that they have completed 6,978 kilometers of railway projects, 3,776 kilometers are ongoing, and they are continuing the projects for 5,785 kilometers.

Referring to sectoral indicators in railways, Uraloğlu stated, "We aim to increase the share of railways in passenger and freight transportation through the electrification and signaling of existing lines. This year, our electric line length is 2,274 kilometers, and we plan to reach 12,561 kilometers by 2028. We also foresee increasing our signaling line length from 8,046 kilometers to 13,772 kilometers in 4 years." He emphasized that they aim to ensure the integration of all transportation modes by prioritizing railways and providing better service to passengers, recalling that they have implemented many high-speed train projects for this purpose.

THREE MAJOR HIGH-SPEED TRAIN PROJECTS

Uraloğlu stated that they have solved the transportation problems of the public with targeted projects, noting: "We opened the Ankara-Eskişehir section of the Ankara-Eskişehir-Istanbul YHT Project on March 13, 2009, and the Eskişehir-Istanbul section on July 27, 2014. The investment cost of the project was 2.6 billion dollars. The project, which has a length of 534 kilometers, was designed to have a speed of 250 kilometers per hour. So far, we have transported 55.7 million passengers. Of these, 20.7 million traveled on the Ankara-Eskişehir line, 34.3 million on the Ankara-Istanbul line, and 717,485 on the Eskişehir-Istanbul line. We have continued investments to contribute to transportation in the country's most populous provinces. In this context, the Ankara-Konya-Karaman YHT Project is one of the significant works we have done. The investment cost of the project is 1.4 billion dollars, and its length is 411 kilometers. We opened the Ankara-Konya section of this project on August 23, 2011, and have served 20.5 million passengers so far. We implemented the Konya-Karaman High-Speed Train Project on January 8, 2022, and with the opening of this line, we started direct YHT operations between Karaman-Istanbul and Karaman-Ankara. We have transported 2.1 million passengers between Karaman and Ankara, 1.5 million between Karaman and Istanbul, and 11.1 million between Konya and Istanbul.

NEW PROJECTS WILL INCREASE COMFORT AND SPEED IN TRANSPORTATION

Uraloğlu stated that the Ankara-Sivas YHT was put into service on April 26, 2023, with a length of 405 kilometers, saying, "In one of the important projects of the Central Anatolia Region, we started the Sivas-Istanbul YHT services on May 4, 2024. Since the line opened on April 26, 2023, 1.7 million people have traveled on the Sivas-Ankara and Sivas-Istanbul YHTs. Thus, we have served 93 million passengers with our YHTs so far. With our new projects, we will provide our citizens with more comfortable and faster transportation."