The ultimate part of the high-speed railway mission connecting Turkey to Bulgaria has begun with work on the Halkali to Ispartakule tunnel.
The Halkali Kapikule Railway Challenge started in 2019 and was described by the Turkish Authorities as the primary a part of the Asia-Europe Railway Hall, with the 229km-long mission marking the principle rail hyperlink between Turkey and Western Europe by connecting to the Trans-European Transport Community.
Turkey’s Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu attended the ground-breaking ceremony for the 9km Halkali-Ispartakule line, celebrating the railway’s position in connecting the nation throughout Asia, Europe and Africa.
Uraloğlu mentioned, translated from Turkish: “This railway line will additional strengthen the relations between Turkey and the European Union and can reinforce our friendship.”
“This mission constitutes one of the vital essential hyperlinks that kind the European reference to the a part of the Silk Railway route passing by way of our nation.”
Uraloğlu additionally mentioned that the entire mission would scale back the time it takes to get from Halkali in Istanbul to Kapikule, on the border of Turkey and Bulgaria, by two and a half hours; from 4 hours to at least one and a half. It is going to additionally improve the present line capability 4 occasions over.
The ultimate part of the road might be constructed by a bunch of native building firms, together with Gülermak Ağır Sanayı, Yapı & Yapı Inşaat and Taşyapı Inşaat, at a value of Tl6bn ($223m).
The overwhelming majority of the high-speed rail mission will contain the boring of a 6.2km tunnel as much as a depth of 55m by way of the Küçükçekmece Lake and the proposed Istanbul canal.
Work on the Halkali Kapikule mission is simply one of many investments into high-speed rail in Turkey, with one other line additionally being constructed within the south of the nation, connecting Mersin to Gaziantep, which not too long ago benefited from $867m of funding from the UK Authorities by way of the UK Export Finance credit score company.
