The process that will cause a significant change in the Turkish Transportation Sector has been initiated. The “Draft Law on Liberalization of Railway Transportation in Turkey” prepared by the Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications and sent to the Prime Ministry by taking the opinions of the relevant public institutions and NGOs, was signed after the meetings in the Council of Ministers and sent to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on 06.03.2013.
Discussions on the Draft Law were held on Thursday, 13.03.2013 at the Public Works, Reconstruction, Transport and Tourism Commission of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, under the chairmanship of Istanbul Deputy İdris Güllüce, Commissioner Deputies, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Binali Yıldırım, public administrators, Railway Transport Association and TOBB and Railway. It was held with the participation of the representatives of the Employees' Unions.
Interviews on the draft law on 13 Articles and the 5 Temporary Article lasted approximately nine hours. Some of the clauses of the MPs have been amended and amendments have been adopted.
Binali Yıldırım, Minister of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications, stated in the negotiations that the government's approach is that the draft law should be discussed and accepted in the TGNA as soon as possible.
In order to benefit from the advantageous aspects of the railway transportation system within the integrated transport system, it is necessary to remove the monopoly in the railway sector and to provide a free, transparent, fair and sustainable competition environment.
In order to reinvigorate the role of railroads in the development and independence of our country and to strengthen its role in transportation; it will be sustainable, free from competition, competitive, economic and social aspects, and will pave the way for the establishment of a railway sector in line with the European Union (EU) legislation.
Thus, more efficient use of the existing country resource in the railway field will be ensured and the idle capacity will be put into use.
TCDD has been restructured and the terms of reference and the scope of activities of the Institution, which has been performing infrastructure and train operations together, are being changed. TCDD is restructured as infrastructure operators, railway operators as the Republic of Turkey State Railways Transport Joint Stock Company (TCDD Transport Inc.) is established.
In addition, public legal entities and joint stock companies registered in the trade registry are provided with the opportunity to operate railway infrastructure and train operations.
As it is directly related to safety, the right and duty to manage the railway traffic on the whole national railway infrastructure network are monopolized to TCDD.
On the other hand, in order to expand the national railway network, public legal entities other than the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and private sector joint-stock companies are required to construct their own railway infrastructure, opportunity.
As the Association of Railway Transportation we are pleased to contribute to the preparation of the Draft Law and the works of the TGNA Commission.
We will be in the effort to make the necessary contribution in the meetings to be held at the General Assembly of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
As we always say; “The railway is our future.
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