Turkey became acquainted with high-speed train technology in 2009 with the commissioning of the Ankara-Eskişehir Line. Later, this line was followed by the commissioning of Ankara-Konya lines in 2011, Eskişehir-Konya lines in 2013, Ankara-Istanbul and Konya-Istanbul lines in 2014. Finally, in January 2022, the Konya-Karaman Line was put into service.
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu announced that the Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train Line will be opened on April 26. In fact, TCDD General Manager Hasan Pezük, who participated in the test drive, said that railways have been handled with a new understanding as a state policy since 2003, over 20 billion liras have been invested in railways in the last 370 years, and the share of railways in transportation investments has exceeded 60 percent.
Stating that important changes occurred in the economic and social life of cities with the transition to high-speed train operation, Pezük emphasized that as of today, when the Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train Line is included, there is a 13 kilometer railway network.
Pezuk underlined that they have successfully carried out high-speed train operations on a total of 2 kilometers of high-speed train lines, and that they have provided 228 million citizens with the opportunity to travel economically, quickly and comfortably by reaching 13 cities with high-speed trains, as the TCDD family. expressed their happiness.
WE DO TRIAL DRIVES
Pointing out that railway investments require long processes in terms of both construction, electromechanical and signaling, Pezük said, “Right now, we are doing test drives together. All of our construction and electromechanical works and signaling tests on our line have been completed. We are currently running a trial run on our line. The happiest times are when we get the reward of years of hard work and test the line from start to finish. Hopefully, on April 26, both us and our citizens living in the regions between Ankara and Sivas are eagerly waiting for our line to be opened.” he said. Emphasizing that the Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train Line directly concerns three provinces, Pezük stated that 1,4 million citizens in Kırıkkale, Yozgat and Sivas will have comfortable economic travel opportunities. Stating that this line will be connected to cities such as Tokat, Erzincan and Malatya in the continuation of Sivas, together with the highway lines, Pezük said it will serve a much larger audience when the indirectly connected provinces such as Istanbul, Ankara, Konya, Eskişehir, Tokat and Erzincan are considered. He underlined that it will be an important line.
IN THIS PROJECT, WE USE THE LOCAL RAILS FOR THE FIRST TIME ON SPEED TRAIN LINES
Pezük stated that with the commissioning of the line, the distance between Ankara and Sivas by rail will decrease from 603 kilometers to 405 kilometers, and the travel time from 12 hours by rail to 2 hours. He stated that a total of 8 stations, including Sivas, were built.
Stating that this important high-speed train project includes many “bests”, new technological applications, engineering solutions and firsts, Pezük said: “A total of 155 million cubic meters of excavation and filling was carried out within the scope of the project. 66 tunnels with a total length of 49 kilometers and 27,2 viaducts with a total length of 49 kilometers were built. The longest tunnel of the project was built in Akdağmadeni with 5 thousand 125 meters, and the longest railway viaduct was built in Çerikli / Kırıkkale with 2 thousand 222 meters. The construction of the railway viaduct, which has the highest pillar of Turkey with a height of 88,6 meters, was carried out in Elmadağ within the scope of this project. The railway viaduct, which has the longest span in the world, was built by passing 90 meters of span with the MSS method (formwork carriage). For the first time in high-speed train lines, we used domestic rails in this project. We realized the ballastless road (concrete road) application in tunnels for the first time in this project. In addition, we have built a domestic and national ice prevention and defrosting facility in Sivas suitable for winter conditions.”
THERE IS A VERY HIGH DEMAND FOR OUR EXISTING LINES
Noting that the line was designed for a speed of 250 kilometers per hour, Pezük said, “This design speed, of course, our trains can go up to 300 kilometers. With the commissioning of the line, the travel time between Ankara and Sivas will be reduced from 12 hours by rail to only 2 hours. Our citizens leaving Ankara will have the opportunity to reach Yozgat in a short time like 1 hour. We calculated that with the commissioning of the line, an annual economic benefit of over 410 million TL could be achieved from energy and time savings and traffic accident costs. In addition, more than 29 tons of carbon emissions will be saved, which is an important indicator that the project is very environmentally friendly.” used the phrases.
Pointing out that there are now increasing and integrated high-speed train lines, Pezuk emphasized that there is a very high demand for existing lines. Pezuk, Ankara-Izmir, Bursa-Bilecik, ÇerkezköyStating that the high-speed train construction works continue on a total route of 3 thousand 593 kilometers, including Kapikule, Karaman-Ulukışla-Yenice-Mersin-Adana, Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep, he said, “We can proudly say that our country has the most ongoing railway construction after China. and it has become a planning country.” said.
MANUFACTURING WORKS OF OUR NATIONAL ELECTRIC SPEED TRAIN COMPLETED
TCDD General Manager emphasized that they are carrying out intensive localization studies in terms of signaling, electromechanical systems and infrastructure construction to increase the rates of locality and nationality in both high-speed train technologies and railways. Pezük stated that the E5000 type electric locomotive, which was developed with domestic and national facilities at the TÜRASAŞ Eskişehir factory of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, is an important project that will provide great added value to the country for many years in both freight and passenger transportation. Stating that they have reached an important stage in the work of the National Electric High Speed Train they carried out together with TÜRASAŞ, Pezük said, “The manufacturing works of our National Electric High Speed Train, which will speed up to 160 kilometers per hour, have been completely completed, and the final tests are currently being carried out. They will be put into operation in a very short time. Afterwards, we have completed the design work of our domestic and national electric high-speed train, which will reach a speed of 225 kilometers per hour. We can give the good news that the production works have started. We are following these projects with the multi-faceted support of our Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Karaismailoğlu.” made evaluations.