TURKEY: Construction has restarted on the 503 km high speed line which will reduce the rail distance between Ankara and Izmir from 824 km to 624 km, operating at a maximum speed of 250 km/h and reducing the end-to-end journey time from 14 h to 3½ h.
Construction of the initial section began in 2012, but was suspended in 2018 when almost 50% of the works had been completed on some sections.
Work was officially restarted by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Minister of Transport & Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu with a ceremony in Sinanpaşa, west of Afyonkarahisar, on August 30.
The main contractor is a consortium of ERG İnşaat Ticaret ve Sanayi and Sauerwein & Schaefer Bau.
Completion of the line is being financed by Credit Suisse and Standard Chartered Bank, with UK Export Finance guaranteeing £1·8bn through its Buyer Credit Scheme
Route
The new line will diverge from the existing Ankara – Konya high speed corridor at a junction at Kocahacılı, 27 km south of Polatlı, from where it will run west to Afyonkarahisar on a new alignment.
It will then run west, broadly following an existing rail corridor via various cut-offs and realignments to serve Uşak, Esme, Salihli, Manisa and Izmir.
The line will include nine new stations, 48 tunnels totalling 42·3 km, and 11 cut-and-cover sections, 68 viaducts totalling 26·5 km and 63 bridges.
