TURKEY: Four extensions to existing metro lines have been opened in Istanbul to coincide with the municipal elections which took place at the end of March.
On March 11, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan inaugurated a seven-station southern extension of line M3 from Kirazlı to Bakırköy Sahil on the Sea of Marmara coast. The 8·4 km extension provides interchange with metro lines M1a and M1b, as well as tramway T1 and the orbital Metrobus bus rapid transit. At Bakırköy Sahil the line serves the existing sea bus terminal offering connections to the Asian side of Istanbul.
A tender for construction, supply and installation of electromechanical systems and commissioning for the latest segment was won in 2014 by Aga Enerji with a bid worth €242m. The opening comes approximately a year after the inauguration of the four-station northern section from Başakşehir Metrokent to a planned interchange with line M11 at Kayaşehir Merkez. M3 now serves 20 stations in total.
Airport line
Line M11 serving Istanbul’s main airport was extended by a further 10 km on March 19 with the opening of a section between Kargo Terminali and Arnavutköy by Minister of Transport & Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu. M11 is intended to form an inverted U shape curving around the north of the European side of the conurbation; and the latest extension forms the northernmost part of the western leg. Completion of the remaining section between Arnavutköy and Halkalı will take the route to a total length of 69 km.
At the opening ceremony, Uraloğlu said the government-backed metro would soon become the longest in Turkey and one of the longest fully underground metro lines in the world.
The western leg between Halkalı and Kargo Terminali is being built under contracts worth TL4·2bn which wer awarded to the Kolin-Özgün-Yapı consortium in 2018. These cover civil works, electromechanical systems and commissioning. Consultancy services are being provided by Apco Teknik/Altınok.
The northeastern section of M11 between Istanbul Airport and Kağıthane was opened in January 2023, with the section between Kağıthane and Gayrettepe following in January this year. The route is run by national operator TCDD, with driverless trains operating every 20 min at up to 120 km/h; The current maximum capacity is of M11 is put at 12 800 passengers a day.
Both the M3 and M11 extensions were developed by the national Ministry for Transport & Infrastructure, which took over responsibility for developing those lines following the 2019 municipal elections which saw control of Istanbul pass to the country’s main opposition party.
Mayor launches M9 extension
The third opening came on March 18 when city mayor Ekrem İmamoülu presided over the inauguration of a 13·4 km extension of Line M9 between Bahriye and Ataköy. Running though the west of the city on the European side, this section has 12 stations, and joins the previously isolated Bahriye – İkitelli – Olimpiyat stub with the coast. Interchange with Line M1 is provided at Yenibosna, and to the Marmaray suburban line at Ataköy.
Contracts for the full M9 route, which now links Ataköy with Olimpiyat, were let in September 2015 to Aga Enerji with a bid of €338m. Construction started in February 2016 before being halted during the economic crisis of 2018; work restarted only after the opposition won the 2019 elections.
Expansion on the Asian side
The metro network on the Asian side of the Bosporus grew on March 16 when Imamoğlu opened a 6·5 km, four-station extension of Line M5 between Çekmeköy and Samandıra Merkez; this will be followed in the coming months by a further section to Sultanbeyli.
The route has been built by Doğüş Inşaat under a 2017 tender worth TL2·3bn. Development of the extension was halted in 2018 before being revived in 2019 after the municipality secured a €110m loan followed in 2020 by the issuing of a €60m Eurobond.
More lines planned
A slew of metro schemes is still being taken forward by the city government. On March 14, testing began on the first section of the 13 km Line M12 between Göztepe and Kazım Karabekir, which is expected to open next year. The work is being co-funded through an €98m loan from EBRD.
On March 11 Imamoğlu presided over a groundbreaking ceremony for Line M13, which will serve 15 stations over a 25 km corridor between Soğütlüçeşme on the Marmaray suburban line and Yenidoğan.
A consortium of Doğuş Inşaat, Özaltın and Yapı Merkezi won a 2017 tender for construction of the easternmost section between Yenidoğan and Emek, interchanging with the latest extension of Line M5 at Sarigazi. Following the 2019 elections, plans were announced to extend the line to Soğutlüçeşme, but as yet no tenders have been called for the civil works on this western extension.
