Posted by meb at August 13th, 2008

The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) has entered a new era in the country’s 100-year-old railway system by proceeding with a project to lay a second track next to the country’s current one-way railroad as part of efforts to retrofit the system.

The Ministry of Transportation decided to upgrade the country’s railway system, a project that has been postponed for many years, after observing the success of double lane highways in the country, which were constructed after the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) came to power in 2002. All new railways to be constructed will have two sets of tracks, as is the case with the Ankara-İstanbul and Ankara-Konya high-speed train tracks. The project also involves improving the current railway network by constructing a second railway track alongside current tracks. The TCDD plans to construct a second track on the 193-kilometer-long Ankara-Kayseri, Kayseri-Divriği, Kayseri-Ulukışla-Yenice and Konya-Karaman-Ulukışla tracks, which form the core of the freight business in Turkey. The project is expected to be completed in 10 years in three phases. (more…)