TURKEY: Projects to connect major industrial and agricultural production zones to the national rail network are set to be included in the 2025 Presidential Investment Programme, with construction tenders to be opened in the next six months.
Plans include a new line from the recently constructed Black Sea port and gas processing facility at Filyos west to Zonguldak, the regional capital which already has a rail connection running via Karabük and Çankiri to İrmak on the Ankara – Kirikkale line.
Zonguldak would also be connected via a new line to Akçakoca and Karasu, also on the Black Sea coast. This is expected to integrate with a currently non-operational isolated line constructed in the 1950s to connect the coal mine at Armutçuk with the steel works at Karadeniz Ereğli, along which a passenger service was also operated. The line was decommissioned in the 1990s but the trackbed remains.
Also planned is a completely new line running between the city of Aksaray and Ulukışla on the existing Konya – Karaman – Yenice line. This would carry freight from Aksaray to Mersin, Turkey’s main east Mediterranean port, and passenger trains to Adana and beyond.
A further new line is planned to run between the east Mediterranean oil terminals at Dörtyol and Hassa, close to the Syrian border.
Also expected to enter the initial development stages are long-standing plans to construct a high speed line from Kirikkale to Çorum. A second stage to Amasya would enable direct high speed travel between the Black Sea port of Samsun and the capital Ankara.
Renewals works on the main line between Divriği, Erzincan, Erzurum and Kars are also to be included in next year’s investment programme, although it is currently unclear whether this would involve significant remodelling to support high speed operation.
