Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu attended the "Shoulder to Shoulder 165th Year Railway Workers' Meeting" program held at TCDD. Karaismailoğlu emphasized on domestic and national production and said that with the works carried out by TÜRASAŞ, they reduced the foreign dependency in Turkey's need for railway vehicles. Karaismailoğlu said, “We have completed the test processes of the National Electric Train set with a speed of 160 kilometers per hour. We will start mass production in 2022. We will also start the mass production of the national electric locomotive next year," he said.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu attended the "Shoulder to Shoulder 165th Year Railway Workers' Meeting" program held at TCDD. Emphasizing that Turkey will become stronger, develop and grow in return for the labor of the workers, Karaismaioğlu continued as follows:
“Under the leadership of our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 'the big and powerful silhouette of Turkey has appeared'. In this process, it is extremely important for our country to have a complete infrastructure. Our railways have a historical and strategic importance beyond the economic and social life of this country and these lands. We fulfill this requirement. We continue to invest in our railways, which were neglected for almost half a century until the AK Party governments. By braiding our country with iron nets, we increase our railway potential in human and freight transportation. Located in the Central Corridor of the Iron Silk Road, stretching from China to London, between Asia and Europe, our country is a center for international freight and passenger transportation. During the period of our governments, the amount of investment we made for the development of our country's railways exceeded 212 billion liras.”
WE INCREASED THE RAILWAY NETWORK TO 12 KILOMETER
Emphasizing that the share of railways in the investment increased from 2013 percent in 33 to 2020 percent in 47, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu said, “We have started mobilization for the modernization of our railways and the construction of new and high-speed train lines. During the period of our governments, we built 213 kilometers of YHT line. We increased our conventional line length to 11 thousand 590 kilometers. We increased our total railway network to 12 kilometers. We increased the signaled line length in 803 to 2003 kilometers with an increase of 172 percent, and the electric line length to 6 kilometers with an increase of 828 percent. We made our country, which we introduced with the High Speed Train system, the 180th YHT operator in the world and the 5th in Europe. We have put Marmaray, the project of the century, into the service of our people and world trade.”
WORK CONTINUES ON 3 thousand 515 KM YHT LINE
Noting that Turkey has a significant trade volume in regional freight transportation and that they will further increase this potential by establishing logistics centers, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu said, Ankara-Sivas, Ankara-İzmir, Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmanaeli, Konya-Karaman-Ulukışla, Mersin-Adana. -Gaziantep, Kapikule-Çerkezköy and Sivas-Erzincan High Speed Train Lines, a total of 3 thousand 515 kilometers of high-speed train line construction work continues.
ANKARA-İSTANBUL SPEED TRAIN LINE TO BE SHORTENED BY 40 MINUTES
Noting that the work continues on the 357 kilometer conventional line, Karaismailoğlu said, “We are completing our additional works on the Ankara-Istanbul High Speed Train line, whose infrastructure productions have been completed and will shorten the travel time by another 40 minutes, next year.”
Expressing that the works for the construction of junction lines to centers with load potential are continuing at full speed, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu underlined that they aim to reach a carrying capacity of 25 million tons in 20 logistics centers in rail transportation, in an area of 75 million square meters. Noting that they also aim to contribute to the holistic development of Turkey, Karaismailoğlu said, “Our road is long but bright. We will reach our goals together, shoulder to shoulder, tomorrow as we did yesterday.”
AMOUNT OF CARGO INCREASED 18 PERCENT
Karaismailoğlu said, “While the traffic flow between countries decreased significantly in other transportation modes during the pandemic, the process worked in favor of our railway transportation,” Karaismailoğlu stated that as of August 2021, the amount of freight carried on the railways increased by 18 percent compared to the previous period. Emphasizing that a total of 1 million 276 thousand 134 tons of cargo was transported in exports and imports over the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway line, Karaismailoğlu underlined that they aim to increase the amount of cargo to 2024 million tons by the end of 20.
“WE COMPLETED THE TEST PROCESSES OF THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC TRAIN SET”
Drawing attention to the domestic and national production move, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu continued as follows:
“With the works carried out by TÜRASAŞ, we first reduce the foreign dependency in our country's need for railway vehicles by developing the product portfolio. In this context, all of our national productions; We continue our activities for the design and production of commuter, subway vehicle, high-speed train, electric locomotive, locomotive platform, electric train set, new generation railway maintenance vehicle, traction chain and train control system and new generation diesel engine. We have completed the test processes of the National Electric Train set, which has a speed of 160 kilometers per hour. We will start mass production in 2022. Again, next year, we will start the mass production of the national electric locomotive. We will complete the design work of the National High Speed Train with a speed of 225 kilometers per hour and move on to the prototype production stage. In the national suburban project, we continue the design work. Our goal is; To put our vehicle on the rails in 2023. The moment we complete these projects and put our vehicles on the rails; We will reach an important stage for our country in all rail system vehicle production, including metro, suburban and tram design and production.”
WE WILL CONTINUE TO PROTECT OUR WORKERS
Noting that all parties made great efforts to protect the right of labor and sweat of the worker in the signed collective bargaining agreement, Karaismailoğlu said, “1 percent for the first 6 months in the 12st year, 6 percent for the second 5 months, 2 percent for the first and second six months of the second year. Inflation differences will also be taken into account. Thus, we will continue to protect our fellow workers against inflation.”
TOP EXECUTIVES FROM 55 COUNTRIES WILL PARTICIPATE
Karaismailoğlu pointed out that an international council with the theme of 'Logistics, Mobility and Digitalization' was held at Istanbul Atatürk Airport on October 6-7-8, 2021 and added:
“In our 55th Transportation and Communications Meeting, where senior executives from 12 different countries will attend; We will discuss mega transportation projects that will change the world. We will set new standards for global supply chains after Covid-19. We will consider the dissemination of digitalization in all modes of transport and communication. We make our country, which is located in the center of the Eurasian region and at the heart of the New Silk Road, the central country in transportation modes. Thus, Turkey is rapidly making progress towards becoming the economic leader country in its region, which determines the course of trade. In order to become a superpower in the field of logistics with all modes of transportation, we prioritize domestic and national production, sustainable rational mobility and digitalization. In all these processes, with our new and high-speed lines and the spread of digitalization in the sector, our railway sector has a special place and priority.”
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