TURKEY: The transport ministry has announced the opening of the 106 km Konya – Karaman line, which has been extensively upgraded and realigned by lead contractor Gülermak.
The double-tracked route mostly follows the alignment of the existing railway, but several cut-offs and diversions have been built to reduce the distance between the two cities; journey times have been cut from 1 h 20 min to 40 min. It is the first stage of the planned upgrading of the corridor from Konya to Adana for high speed passenger and freight services. According to the ministry, the next 135 km section between Karaman and Ulukışla is 89% complete, with design of the signalling underway, and an invitation to tender for electrification being prepared.
Once this section has been rebuilt, journey times between Karaman and Ulukışla will be cut from 3 h 40 min to 1 h 35 min.
Faster to Kayseri
Meanwhile, a consortium of Doğuş, Çekler and Özkar has been selected to rebuild the Yerköy – Kayseri line for high speed services within a budget of €1·1bn. This will involve realigning the existing line to allow services to run at 250 km/h, while reducing the route length from 170 km to 142 km. Nine new tunnels will be bored, the longest of which will be 3·28 km long. In addition, 18 bridges, 20 overpasses, 116 underpasses and 21 viaducts will be required. Construction is expected to start later this year.
High speed services from the capital to Kayseri will share the Ankara – Sivas high speed corridor as far as Yerköy. Once the route from there to Kayseri has been rebuilt, journey times to and from Ankara will fall from 7 h to 2 h.
