Railway to Coal

Within the scope of the "Railway to Coal" project of the Western Black Sea Development Agency, a field study of the Zonguldak-Kozlu-Üzülmez railway was carried out. BAKKA Secretary General Elif Acar said, “After we formulate this concept, we will meet with the State Railways and start preparing on concept trains. He said, "We will do lobbying activities to create wagons for tourism."

West Black Sea Development Agency (BAKKA) 'Coal to the railway' project within the framework of the project to bring Zonguldak-Üzülmez-Kozlu railroad field tour was organized. In addition to the representatives of the contractor companies carrying out the concept development and pre-feasibility study, BAKKA Secretary General Elif Acar, TSO President Metin Demir, city regional planners and architects accompanied the field trip. The first leg of the trip, starting from Zonguldak Kozlu region was carried out by TTK'ya locomotive. From the city center to the train station in the neighborhood of Çaydamar then through Tunnels Kozlu's İhsaniye neighborhood and district center was provided transportation. After the Kozlu tour, this time the trip was made to the Üzülmez area.

"We will start preparing on concept trains"
Elif Acar, General Secretary of the Western Black Sea Development Agency, stated that they made a field trip in the continuation of the work started to bring the Kozlu-Üzülmez railway line to tourism. Stating that they had the opportunity to experience the train line with all stakeholders within the scope of the project, Acar said, “Can we renew the Kozlu Üzülmez train line within the scope of tourism? We wanted to see if we could bring it to tourism. We got together with all our stakeholders and held a meeting. Then we wanted to see the line on the field. Turkey Coal Institution gave us great support in this regard. In this context, we had the opportunity to experience the line on the train with our relevant stakeholders. A very different experience for us. After we create this concept, we will meet with the State Railways and start preparing on concept trains. We will conduct lobbying efforts to create tourism-oriented wagons. I hope it will be beneficial for our city and region ”.

'Support for both tourist route and urban transportation'
Metin Demir, President of the Zonguldak Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the railway line could support both the touristic route and the inner city transportation.
“The line is not actually a line that we do not know and we did not use, but it is a line we used before, but today we are doing study studies with our friends coming outside the city. As you know, this is actually a more comprehensive and large scale project last year, which was developed by our Western Black Sea Development Agency called "Railway to Coal". Later this was translated into a tourism concept named "Journey to the Butterfly's Dream". We are working on a large scale tourism package that will come from Ankara to Zonguldak, the major part of the work, and will provide the participants with the tourist values ​​in the Western Black Sea region. We have a preliminary idea that the line between the small scale Kozlu and the center and continuing to Üzülmez can be used both as a tourist route and we have difficulties in urban transportation, this line may be a remedy for this because of the kilometer advantage. Today, together with our transportation experts, we are evaluating this issue with our local friends who know this line well. After the impressions we have gained today, we will turn this into a final report. If we can succeed, our main goal is to use this short line for both urban transportation and tourism purposes, this will hopefully turn into a successful project. "

"We want this history to turn into culture"
Research historian and writer Ekrem Murat Zaman said, “We are now determining the railway planned to go from Kozlu, which is the organization of BAKKA, to Üzülmez. We want this railway to live before anything else. We want this history to turn into culture. While we want this, we want all industrial social facilities on the railway route from Kozlu to Üzülmez to be recognized. While the works of all of them are continuing on the one hand, can this route be used especially for the nostalgia veterans of the railway route without the slightest interruption to the coal works? On this route, we examine what can be done besides coal transportation. Every subject has an expert here. Everyone who designed this work, from railroaders to architects, from city planners, is now doing the first work here. That is why, this is our second trip today, we left the port more comprehensively. We came to Kozlu and we will pass to Üzülmez. "What can be done on the railway between Üzülmez lauvarı and Kozlu lauvarı? What can be done on this railway? How to create a tourism destination between the mining museum in Zonguldak and the cave, what can be done in Azülmez valley.