Metro Istanbul Academy, established by Metro Istanbul, one of the subsidiaries of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), to meet the need for qualified technical personnel in the rail systems sector and to ensure the development of its employees, was opened.
Metro Istanbul, which carries one of every two passengers traveling by rail systems in Turkey, opened the Metro Istanbul Academy, which it established to meet the qualified technical personnel needs of the rail systems sector of which it is the leader in a sustainable manner and to contribute to the professional and personal development of its own employees.
The opening ceremony, which took place at the Metro Istanbul Academy Faik Köklü Campus inside the Yenikapı metro station, was attended by IMM President Advisor Yiğit Oğuz Duman, IMM Deputy Secretary General and Metro Istanbul Chairman Zeynep Neyza Akçabay, Metro Istanbul General Manager Dr. In addition to Özgür Soy, company senior management and Metro Istanbul employees, Faik Köklü's wife and family also attended.
“Metro Istanbul Academy guarantees a much more sustainable life”
IMM President Ekrem İmamoğluReminding that Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality set out with the aim of making Istanbul a more fair, more sustainable and more innovative city, Yiğit Oğuz Duman, Advisor to the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, said: "Thankfully, we have spent these five years in this way, and how to create a more fair administration for all Istanbulites and our entire country." It happens, we tried to make you feel and show it. What we mean by justice is justice towards society, our citizens and our colleagues. Likewise, what we mean by sustainable is, of course, an Istanbul that is greener and respectful to its nature, as well as an Istanbul that is respectful to its people, where people are constantly developing, renewing and ready for the future. He always had the effort and energy to do much better in the innovation department. These three words completely describe where we are today. It is more fair because we now have an institution that will create a much more fair development opportunity for the people we employ in a much more fair way. We have an institutionalized education reflex with Metro Istanbul Academy. Therefore, this is a more fair center. It is more sustainable because there is an incredibly changing technology and service quality expectation. We must also meet this expectation. For this, we need to constantly improve ourselves. That's why Metro Istanbul Academy guarantees a much more sustainable life and is much more innovative. As the name suggests, this is the academy. "It will be the center of learning and developing people," he said.
“Metro Istanbul Academy is a step that shows the importance given to employees”
Zeynep Neyza Akçabay, Deputy Secretary General of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metro Istanbul, underlined that Metro Istanbul is a company with a very high awareness of women's employment and said, “In the past, there was a misconception that 'technical work is a man's job' due to being a technical company. I am also a civil engineer. Our Deputy Secretary General responsible for rail systems is also a civil engineer. Today, we have with us our İETT Deputy General Manager Zeynep Hanım, she is also a technical engineer. We see that when women are given equal opportunities, we are already successful enough in these roles. We are at a place where we have increased the number of female train drivers from 8 to 300. When we first started working, there would be a mass recruitment of train drivers in 2019. We were also creating a new recruitment structure, as you know, we had added our career site to the system, and we could apply from there. At that time, while we were negotiating for the recruitment of train drivers, Mr. Yiğit said, "Let's open the advertisement only to female candidates." This was essentially our starting point in Metro Istanbul. We rapidly increased women's employment and more followed. We did not have a female station chief when we took office, now we have 36 female station chiefs. We never had a technical chief, now we have one. Our application rates increased from 7% to 42%. While the number of employees was 5%, it is now around 15%. That's why Metro Istanbul deserves a thank you in this sense. Of course, it's not just women. The same goes for our disabled friends. Metro Istanbul is an institution that shows that everyone can succeed when given equal opportunities. Metro Istanbul Academy is a step that shows the importance given to employees. "I would like to thank everyone who contributed," he said.
“Our number of passengers has increased by more than 2019 percent since 40”
Metro Istanbul General Manager Dr. Özgür Soy gave the information that Istanbul was introduced to rail systems at the end of the 19th century and said, “With the first years of the Republic, Istanbul was in an important place in the use of rail systems. But we think it was neglected for a long time afterwards. During the reign of former Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Presidents Mr. Bedrettin Dalan and Mr. Nurettin Sözen, the construction of our M1, M2 and T1 lines started. Metro lines were built in the following period, but considering the growth of the population and the increase in needs, the kilometers of the lines remained very funny. When we took over in 2019, our line length was 154,8 kilometers, and the M1980, M1 and T2 lines, which started in the 1s, were still serving two-thirds of the total passengers. Our number of lines has increased by 2019 percent since 38,5. "Our number of stations increased by 37 percent and our number of passengers increased by over 40 percent," he said.
“Whichever company you go to in the sector, you will definitely see someone who is a Metro Istanbul graduate.”
Reminding that Metro Istanbul's job is not to build new subways, but to offer a good travel experience to metro users and lead the sector by managing the investments made in the best way, General Manager Soy said, "In order to do this properly, two elements come to the fore: Technology and people." gave the information:
“Today, we are proud to receive dozens of patents in our Registered R&D Center, which we established in 2021, and we make a great contribution to the national economy and the development of our country by producing our own vehicle and our own signal system. While we operate vehicles with antique value, such as the 1934 Model Gottha and the 1974 Model Cologne tram, in our vehicle fleet, on the other hand, we use the latest model state-of-the-art vehicles that have recently joined our fleet, and we are proud to say that we have achieved the competence to carry out all maintenance of these 19 different model vehicles, from mechanics to electronics, with our own means. . If we boast about our technical competencies and our ability to produce technology, of course there are people behind it, the Metro Istanbul workers. Our duty is to equip both our current employees and our new friends with knowledge and skills. This is one of our most important duties. Metro Istanbul already traditionally has this feature. Whatever company you go to in the sector today, you will definitely see someone who is a Metro Istanbul graduate. However, today, it is not possible to rely on the staff to be trained in a regimented manner in order to keep up with the speed of development of technology and, of course, the speed of our President Ekrem in building the subway. Metro Istanbul Academy was born from this need. "The foundations were laid in 2022, and we were fortunate enough to open it together here today."
“We know that the steps we have taken have made an impact in our industry.”
Stating that they started to provide various trainings at home and abroad at Metro Istanbul Academy, Dr. Özgür Soy said, “In a short time, we started to provide professional, technical and personal development training to our employees. We provided training in the fields of management, projects and maintenance and repair to industry professionals at home and abroad. We provided first aid training to our employees and different institutions of IMM at the First Aid Training Center opened within Metro Istanbul with the approval of the Provincial Health Directorate. We plan to start with the transportation group and then provide these trainings to all IMM affiliates who need them. We design digital trainings in accordance with the requirements of the age and prepare sectoral trainings for domestic and international purposes in our distance education studio. By collaborating with high schools and universities, we provide sectoral training to young people who are interested in the field of rail systems. With the agreement signed with the International Public Transport Association UITP, we were registered as the 8th Official Academy of UITP in the World and gave our academy an international identity. Thus, we contribute to our sector in Turkey by organizing trainings given by international experts, and also provide training to employees from foreign countries. We know that the steps we take have made an impact in our industry. With this understanding, we initiated a change and transformation movement in the field of gender equality in 2019 in rail systems, which is a male-dominated sector all over the world. "We want to increase the number of female employees both in our company and in the industry by providing technical training especially to women and young people at Metro Istanbul Academy," he said.
Faik Köklü's family also attended the ceremony
General Manager Soy stated that 6 percent of the daily passenger traffic on the lines they operate takes place at Yenikapı station and said, “In Yenikapı, which is a very important point of Istanbul transportation, we also have a Security Monitoring Center where all our subways are monitored. Today we are making a nice addition here. Many people, including our esteemed managers at IMM, Mr. Yiğit Oğuz Duman, Zeynep Neyza Akçabay, Ertan Yıldız, and our Head of the Rail System Department, Ceyhun Avşar, contributed to the foundations of Metro Istanbul Academy. However, one of the first to lay mortar was our former Human Resources and Organizational Development Manager, Mr. Faik Köklü. Unfortunately, we lost him in 2020 due to Covid 19. During that period, we promised Faik Bey's family that we would keep his name alive. "Today, we are experiencing the bittersweet joy of fulfilling this promise," he said.
Faik Köklü's wife, Elif Köklü, who came on stage upon the invitation of General Manager Soy, said, “I would like to thank you very much both on behalf of Faik and on my own behalf. You have truly always been there for us. "I thank you very much for keeping his name alive," he said.