Ülkü Küçükkayalar, Chairman of the Bursa Branch Board of the Chamber of Civil Engineers (IMO), announced the report of the Branch Transportation Commission evaluating the railway works in Bursa transportation. Küçükkayalar emphasized that the transportation investments of Bursa, which is trying to stand out with its agriculture, industry and tourism, and has an important place in Turkey with its export figures and population density, should be planned considering the needs.
The report of the IMO Bursa Branch Transportation Commission evaluating the construction processes of the Bursa Transportation Railway (Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli High Standard Railway project and Kent Meydani-Terminal (T2) Tram Line projects are as follows:
The ceremony of seeing the light in the tunnel of the Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli High Standard Railway project, whose excavations were completed in Bilecik / Osmaneli district, was held last weekend with the participation of Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu, and politicians from Bursa and Bilecik. Minister Karaismailoğlu said that the project work of the 95-kilometer Bandırma-Bursa stage has been completed here. Construction work continues on the Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli phase. This information is important in the following respect; With the simultaneous opening of the entire 201 kilometer Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir Osmaneli High Standard Railway line, ensuring the sea (port) connection of freight trains is of vital importance for reducing freight costs and exporting.
At this point, the expropriation and project of the Bursa-Gemlik Railway Project, which is 22 kilometers long, includes 6 tunnels and 2 bridges, has been added to the Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli High Standard Railway construction as a reserve, and Bursa is located at both ends, namely Bandırma and Gemlik. It will be tied to the sea. For Bursa, which has been waiting for the railway for a long time, this is not a blessing, but the delivery of a delayed right. Considering the TOGG factory under construction in Gemlik, this is a must. There are 16,5 tunnels with a total length of 13 kilometers, 8 escape tunnels with a total length of 11 kilometers, and 1 cut-and-cover tunnels of 5 kilometer in the Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli High Standard Railway project. The tunnel, which was opened with a ceremony on July 16, is the T500 tunnel, which is approximately 04 meters long. In other words, only one of the 29 tunnels has been excavated and supported. Detailed works such as more insulation, final concrete, superstructure and rail laying, electrification will be started in this and other tunnels in the coming days.
TRANSPORTATION INVESTMENTS MUST BE PLANNED LONG-TERM
The journey between Bursa-Ankara and Bursa-Istanbul by Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli High Standard Railway will take 2 hours and 15 minutes. In practice, how would it be preferable to go to Istanbul by rail, which takes 2 hours and 15 minutes from Bursa, via Osmaneli? Because it is possible to reach Osmangazi Bridge and highway in 1 hour. Transportation investments should be planned with long-term projections in mind. Unfortunately, plans are not made in this way in our country. The 2 hours and 15 minutes rail journey from Bursa to Ankara may be up to date in the near term. But it may not find its expected potential passenger in the medium and long term. Because, if the (Ankara-İzmir) Ayrım-Sivrihisar-Bursa highway (Bursa Anatolian Highway), the project and expropriation of which has been completed by KGM, ends, the appeal of the Bursa-Ankara railway via Osmaneli may not be worth the wait. As it is seen, both Bursa-Ankara and Bursa-Istanbul railroad journeys are not routes made specifically for Bursa or considering the needs of Bursa.
BURSA IS A CITY THAT NEEDS SPECIAL SOLUTIONS
It was seen as a Bursa transfer to the Ankara-Istanbul main line. According to the 2021 data of the Turkish Exporters Assembly, Bursa, which ranks 3rd after Istanbul and Kocaeli in exports, with a population of 3.150.000, received a 6,63 percent share of the country's total export sales. In 2021, a total of 184 billion dollars was sold from Bursa to 14 countries and autonomous regions and 14,9 free zones. Bursa, which is the 4th largest city of our country in terms of population and exports sectors such as automotive, textile, ready-made clothing, and furniture, is big enough to be solved in the fastest and most comfortable way.
WE HAVE BEEN USING THE WORD 'WISH' FREQUENTLY
We use the word 'I wish' so often these days. If Osmangazi Bridge had been designed together with the railway line, the warnings of the Bursa Branch of the Chamber of Civil Engineers and the academic chambers were not ignored when the Osmangazi Bridge was built, we would not have used the word 'I wish' for our city now. It could have provided much more effective transportation from Bursa to Istanbul by rail in the YHT category.
T2 LINE EVALUATION
When we evaluate the urban rail system investments, we do not encounter a different picture. The tender for the City Square-Terminal (T2) Tram Line was held on 10.06.2015. 9445 calendar days were given for the construction of the tram line with a total line length of 800 meters. The opening was announced as 25 June 2018. The fact that the line divided the Istanbul road into two and was not integrated with the T1 line and BursaRay Light Rail System (HRS) caused reactions. Academic chambers warned that the project was wrong. In the construction, which stopped due to the termination of the contract with the existing contractor, the supply tender process has started. During this period, some of the trams were purchased. In September 2020, the replenishment construction work resumed. Incomplete productions were completed and finally on July 2, 2022, 7 years after its first tender, the T11 Tram line with 2 stations was put into service. The protected line, isolated from the highway, intersects with the highway at the at-grade intersection at Kent Meydani and Beşyol. With the Beşyol Junction, whose branches could not be built due to expropriation, Yalova Yolu Street, which survived a signalization, has returned to the old one very close to the Beşyol Junction due to the tramway and is stopped due to the light. The waiting of the tram and other rubber-wheeled vehicles side by side in Traffic Signaling creates interesting images. Unlike BursaRay, wrought iron irons and pots with ornamental plants are placed on concrete walls. In fact, successive overpasses blocked the view of the city from the entrance of Istanbul. In the past, the silhouette of the Great Mosque greeted those who came from Istanbul on the way down from Ovaakça. Aside from the new bridges built on Ankara Yolu Street in the City Square, the old bridges built by the General Directorate of Highways 45 years ago are used as platforms for the northern line blue minibuses. In addition, in some places, the T2 overpass stairs or the elevator tower are almost intertwined with apartments and business centers. These forced solutions, made in order not to increase the expropriation costs, give a bad image.
T2 LINE WILL NOT CARRY THE LOAD OF THE REGION AFTER 2 YEARS
There are high-rise urban transformation and Business Center constructions on the street, formerly known as Yalova Road and new name Istanbul Street. New densities continue to be added to dense areas such as Terminal, Buttim, DOSAB, TÜYAP Fairground, Courthouse, Mufti, Özdilek AVM, Anatolium AVM, As Merkez. It is a question mark whether the Silkworm tram, which can operate with a maximum of two trains and was completed in 7 years, can handle the passenger load in the coming years. Yalova Road has the capacity of a light rail system, not a tram, and was designed as the northern line of BursaRay, the application projects are in the Metropolitan archive. Even the exit tunnel mouth of this line at BursaRay Osmangazi station was left in consideration for the future years. The northern direction of the city should have been planned as HRS, with the population projection ahead. An important point is that the tram only goes to the Terminal with a narrow perspective. DOSAB and Demirtaş region, which is a serious housing investment region, should have been able to benefit from this line. It seems that after 2 years, the tram will turn into an investment far from carrying the burden of that region.
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