Turkey railway infrastructure development

Turkey is advancing several major railway projects aimed at expanding transit capacity and modernizing existing networks.

In Istanbul, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure is moving forward with the Istanbul Northern Railway Transit Project. This 120-kilometer double-track line, estimated at $6 billion, is designed to connect Gebze to Halkalı via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge to provide an alternative to the Marmaray system. The first bids for this project were scheduled for mid-October.

Simultaneously, the government is progressing with the Eastern Turkey Middle Corridor (ETMIC) railway development project. This initiative seeks to modernize the Divriği-Kars-Georgia border line through electrification, signaling, and infrastructure rehabilitation. The project is divided into four sections, with tenders for the first three stages scheduled for late December. Financing for the ETMIC project is being provided by the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and the Islamic Development Bank.