IMM President Ekrem İmamoğlu, spoke at the ceremony held on the Çekmeköy-Sancaktepe-Sultanbeyli Metro Line, which the former administration started in 2017 and stopped twice due to insufficient funds, found loans and restarted in 2. Stating that the said line passes through Çekmeköy, Ümraniye, Sancaktepe and Sultanbeyli districts, İmamoğlu said, “You know; The Mayor, who stopped these lines in 2019, said, 'Of course I will make subways to the places that voted for me'. Look, we are building subways to 2018 districts that have not voted for us, but are managed by other districts, and we are trying to find money. Let him vote or not; We are 4 million Istanbulites. These 16 districts are ours as much as the mayors of that district. It is nobody's property," he said.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) started the construction of the Çekmeköy-Sancaktepe-Sultanbeyli Metro Line in May 2017. The project was discontinued on December 7, 29, just 2017 months after construction began. Construction resumed in March 2018. However, due to the inability to make progress payments by the former IMM administration, the construction site fell into silence in October 6, while a 2018 percent progress had been achieved until then. Ekrem İmamoğlu Under the chairmanship of the IMM, the new IMM management started the remanufacturing of the line by obtaining a loan from Deutsche Bank with the agreement made in October 2019. The TBM machine, which is described as the "underground monster" and used for tunneling, was first lowered to the Sancaktepe Station construction site of the line on 26 November 2019, with the participation of İBB President İmamoğlu. A total of 4 TBMs excavated at different points of the 10,9 kilometer line during this process. Today, a ceremony was held for the passage of the TBM machine that reaches Sarıgazi Station of the line. In the ceremony; Along with İmamoğlu, CHP PM member Eren Erdem, CHP Istanbul Deputy Mahmut Tanal, Future Party Deputy Chairman Doğan Demir and IYI Party IMM Parliamentary Group Deputy Chairman İbrahim Özkan were present.
“WE MADE A STRONG PROGRESS IN 1 YEAR”
Making the first speech at the event held for the TBM transition, IMM Rail Systems Department Head Pelin Alpkökin shared detailed information about the past, current state and future of the 4-station line that will pass through 8 districts. Speaking after Alpkökin, İmamoğlu shared the information that the physical progress in the said line was at the level of 4 percent when they took over. İmamoğlu said, “Unfortunately, it was one of our horses that stopped because of insufficient funds and credit could not be obtained,” and continued his words as follows:
“There were already a couple of lines left that didn't stop. All the others were at a standstill. After we took over the task, we provided loans with the work we did. We realized the Eurobond bond process. Hopefully we're on our way quickly. We will put the line into service in two stages. The first phase, consisting of three stations; It will be activated as part of Çekmeköy-Şehir Hospital. We plan to exceed this in the first half of 2023. We will complete the Sancaktepe-Sultanbeyli line in 2024 and hopefully bring the entire line to the service of Istanbulites. We have reached approximately 45 percent progress in the first stage and 15 percent in the second stage. I can say that we have made very strong progress in a little over a year. We want to continue our process with a fast and regular operation.”
Stating that they are working to bring the best loan opportunities to the city, İmamoğlu also included a challenge that they experienced during this process in his speech. Noting that there are pending approval requests in the IMM Assembly commission, İmamoğlu said, "One of them is our line. We want it out as soon as possible. An approval pending in the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Council for 8 months. My friends continue their conversation. But the narrowing of our time is against Istanbul. For a line to wait for the approval of the Assembly for 8 months, it is a useless occupation. Therefore, I follow this process sensitively. I am pushing and questioning every day, every moment.” Repeating that the line in question passes through Çekmeköy, Ümraniye, Sancaktepe and Sultanbeyli districts, İmamoğlu said:
“I EXPECT A POLITICAL ATTITUDE”
"You know; The Mayor, who stopped these lines in 2018, said, 'Of course, I will make subways to the places that voted for me'. Look, we are building subways to 4 districts that have not voted for us, but are managed by other districts, and we are trying to find money. Let him vote or not; or we are 16 million Istanbulites. These 4 districts are ours as much as the mayors of that district. I always say: 'I have a right in the municipalities of Ümraniye, Çekmeköy Sultanbeyli Sancaktepe.' At least as much as I do in those municipalities, those mayors have a right in the Metropolitan. Like this. It's nobody's property. In order for these good services and these beautiful projects to run in a healthy way, we really need to proceed with a supra-political attitude. I expect this above-political attitude and virtue from all my fellow members of parliament, regardless of political party. I expect goodwill, sincerity and virtue from our members of parliament, who are members of all political parties in the parliament, that enable us to think first of all and to think of service to Istanbul.”
“WE CONTINUE ON OUR LAST GAS WAY”
Expressing that the metro is an environmentally friendly investment, İmamoğlu said, “The metro is not just a cost. That is, it is not something to be calculated financially over a cost and return. It is a very important investment that will save the environment pollution, relieve the society, and which should be calculated on the basis of transportation comfort. It is a very important investment in order to reach the level of being a modern city. We continue on our way with the last gas, so that the people of Istanbul meet with these fast, safe and comfortable environmentally friendly investments. We will do our best to bring the metro to every point that Istanbul and our people need, and we will succeed. We are 100% determined to make this city one of the most equipped cities in the world in terms of metro, not only with the existing ones, but also with what we have prepared. We continue to work in harmony. We have nothing hidden. Everything happens in the presence of the public. If the contractor companies -sir, took the tender before us or not- if they are doing their job, we have a place in our heads. We do business with everyone. We scrutinize your work. They will do their job. We will thank them. We will try to pay our money on time. Sometimes we will take the burden of each other in this sense, but at the end of the day, we will present good works to our country with the institutions and organizations of our country," he concluded.
64 THOUSAND 800 PASSENGERS WILL BE MOVED AT ONE DIRECTION
The line, which is expected to relieve the road traffic in the Anatolian part of the city and which is expected to reduce the vehicle crossings between the two sides, will consist of 8 stations. The journey time on the 10,9 kilometer line will be 16 minutes. With the line, 64 passengers will be transported in one direction per hour. Line; It will pass through Çekmeköy, Sancaktepe and Sultanbeyli districts. When the new line, which is the continuation of the Üsküdar-Ümraniye-Çekmeköy Metro Line, is put into service, the Marmaray and Metrobus lines that are ready, the Sultanbeyli-Kurtköy High Speed Train and Yenidogan-İmes-Soyak Yenişehir Metro lines, the implementation projects of which have been completed, and the Hospital-Taşdelen-Yenidoğan Metro under construction. The line will be integrated with the Dudullu-Bostancı Metro Line and the Ümraniye-Ataşehir-Göztepe Metro Line.
DOORS TO PREVENT FALLING ON RAILS
While the main line tunnels of the subway system will be drilled with TBM, 6 station platforms will be built with the NATM tunnel method and ticket halls will be built with the cut-and-cover system. The platform and ticket halls of the 2022 stations of the line, which is planned to be put into service in the last quarter of 2, will be realized with the complete cut-and-cover method. The line, which will be built with the latest technology, will provide "fully automatic driverless metro" service. At the stations, "full height platform separator doors" will be used to prevent falling on the rails. At Samandıra Station, fully automatic mechanical parking with a capacity of 336 vehicles will be provided, allowing drivers to park their vehicles and continue their journeys by metro.
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