Turkey plans to increase its total railway network to 17,287 kilometres by 2028 and to double its number of logistics centres from 12 to 25.
Cconstruction work is under way on 4,158km of lines in line with the country’s 2053 targets.
Anatolia’s railway history began on September 23 1856 with the construction of the Izmir-Aydin line, and that the network had grown into a major transport system with a direct bearing on Turkey’s logistics capacity and international trade links.
Over the past 25 years, the network had been extended from 10,948km to 13,919km, he said, including 2,251km of high-speed line built from scratch. Some 61% of lines are now signalled and more than half are electrified.
The number of provinces directly connected by high-speed rail was targeted to rise from 11 to 27 by 2028. Work is continuing on lines including Ankara-Izmir, Halkali-Kapikule, Bandirma-Bursa-Yenisehir-Osmaneli, Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep, Yerkoy-Kayseri, Kirikkale-Corum and Karaman-Ulukisla.
Turkey designated railways a priority sector, and that average annual line construction had risen from 18km to 135km, compared with 134km in the early years of the Republic.