BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 23. OPEC Fund has allocated $250 million for the missing railway section of the Middle Corridor in Türkiye.
This was announced in a report published on the OPEC page.
According to the information, the OPEC Fund has joined a large-scale international initiative to eliminate the missing link in railway communication between Asia and Europe.
“A loan of $250 million will be used to build a new 127-kilometer railway line, which will bypass the Istanbul metropolitan area and provide high-capacity rail links across the Bosphorus.
It is the largest single financing in the institution’s history and forms part of an approved package of up to $500 million. The project will address a key infrastructure gap on three international trade routes passing through Istanbul and served by rail: the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor, connecting China and Central Asia with Europe; the Iraq Development Road corridor, which will link Asia and the European Union through the Middle East and Türkiye through rail links; the Türkiye-EU corridor, which accounts for a third of Türkiye's international trade," OPEC said.
According to the report, the project will redirect part of the cargo transportation from road to electrified rail transport with lower carbon emissions, and will also strengthen Türkiye’s position as a logistics hub connecting Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
“The total investment of $8.3 billion is being provided by an international group of sponsors led and administered by the World Bank. They include the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank, alongside the Government of Türkiye.
Istanbul is one of the largest cities in the world, located on two continents. Currently, rail traffic across the Bosphorus Strait is carried out through the Marmaray tunnel, which was built primarily for passenger traffic. Freight trains can only use the tunnel during limited nighttime hours, keeping rail freight capacity through the strait to about 3 million tons a year.
To address this limitation, a new 127-kilometer electrified rail corridor will be built between Çayırova on the Asian side and Çatalca on the European side. The crossing of the Bosphorus will be carried out via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, also known as the Third Bridge," OPEC noted.
The report pointed out that the new line will be double-track, electrified, equipped with a full-fledged signaling system, and designed for both passenger and freight traffic.
“Thanks to the project, the annual capacity of rail freight traffic across the Bosphorus will increase to 50 million tons.
It will carry both passengers and freight, and will connect Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport and the national rail network.
Freight journey times between Çayırova and Çatalca will fall from around 13 hours to 3.6 hours. Travel by public transport between the two airports will drop from approximately two hours to 65 minutes.
The OPEC Fund signed its first loan agreement with Türkiye in 1979. It has since approved almost $850 million for transport infrastructure, agriculture, health, energy and other sectors, including recent loans addressing food security and climate resilience,” the report added.
The Middle Corridor is a multimodal trade and transport route connecting Asia and Europe through Central Asia, the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye. The route begins in China and runs through Central Asia before crossing the Caspian Sea and continuing through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Türkiye to European markets.
The Middle Corridor is being developed as an alternative to traditional northern and southern transport routes, providing connectivity between Asian markets, including China, and Europe.