Adil Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Vedat Bilgin, Minister of Labor and Social Security, and Ergün Atalay, President of Türk-İş, celebrated the 165th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey State Railways (TCDD) with a magnificent symposium event with worker representatives and laborers.
All railway workers were commemorated from the establishment to the present in the “Shoulder to Shoulder 165 Years Railway Workers Meeting” hosted by TCDD under the auspices of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
At the meeting at the Behiç Erkin Hall in the Ankara Station Campus, the railwaymen, ministers, TCDD General Manager Metin Akbaş, TCDD Transportation General Manager Hasan Pezük, TÜRASAŞ General Manager Metin Yazar, Deputy General Managers and Heads of Departments met.
“WE MADE OUR COUNTRY 8TH IN THE WORLD AND THE 6TH IN EUROPE”
Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu, who came together with the railway workers, said, “We increased the signaled line length in 2003 to 172 thousand 6 kilometers with an increase of 828 percent, and the electric line length to 180 thousand 5 kilometers with an increase of 828 percent. We made our country, which we introduced with the High Speed Train system, the 8th in the world and the 6th YHT operator in Europe.
Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu said, “During the period of our governments, the amount of investment we made for the development of our country's railways exceeded 212 billion liras. We increased the share of railways in investment from 2013 percent in 33 to 2020 percent in 47. We started mobilization for the modernization of our railways and the construction of new and high-speed train lines. During the period of our governments, we built 213 kilometers of YHT line. At the Turkish Railway Summit we held in Istanbul in October last year, we announced the 'Railways Reform'.
Minister Karaismailoğlu said that as a result of the studies carried out, the ultimate goal in railway transportation is to reach a carrying capacity of 25 million tons in an area of 20 million square meters in 75 logistics centers.
GOOD NEWS FROM MINISTER KARAİSMAİLOĞLU
Minister Karaismailoğlu also referred to the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed train works, “Infrastructure manufacturing has been completed and we aim to complete the work on the Ankara-Istanbul High Speed Train line, which will shorten the travel time by another 40 minutes, next year.” said.
'IN 2021, THE AMOUNT OF CARGO HAS INCREASED BY 18 PERCENT COMPARED TO THE PREVIOUS PERIOD'
Stating that the importance and value of railways increased during the pandemic period, Minister Karaismailoğlu said, “As of August 2021, the amount of freight carried on our railways increased by 18 percent compared to the previous period. A total of 1 million 276 thousand 134 tons of cargo was transported in exports and imports over our Baku-Tbilisi-Kars Railway line. We aim to increase this number to 2024 million tons of cargo by the end of 20. With the 7,2 percent growth rate we achieved in the first quarter of this year, we continued the momentum we achieved last year. Our economy grew by 2021 percent in the second quarter of 21,7, making it the second fastest growing economy in the world. More importantly, we are coming out of this troubled process together with your efforts and efforts.
'WE COMPLETED THE TEST PROCESSES OF THE NATIONAL ELECTRIC TRAIN SET'
Pointing out that they are acting in line with the goal of reducing foreign dependency in railway vehicles, Minister Karaismailoğlu said, "We are primarily reducing foreign dependency in our country's need for railway vehicles by developing the product portfolio with the studies carried out by TÜRASAŞ. We continue our activities for the design and production of our national productions of suburban, metro vehicle, high-speed train, electric locomotive, locomotive platform, electric train set, new generation railway maintenance vehicle, traction chain and train control system and new generation diesel engine. We have completed the test processes of the National Electric Train set, which has a speed of 160 kilometers per hour. We will start mass production in 2022. Again, next year, we will start the mass production of the national electric locomotive. We will complete the design work of the National High Speed Train, which has a speed of 225 kilometers per hour, and proceed to the prototype production stage. Our goal is to put our vehicle on the rails in 2023. Once we complete these projects and put our vehicles on the rails, we will reach an important stage for our country in the production of all rail system vehicles, including metro, suburban and tram design and production.
TCDD GENERAL MANAGER AKBAS: “We learned lessons from yesterday, we are working today, we are targeting tomorrow”
TCDD General Manager Metin Akbaş, host of TCDD's 165th year “Shoulder to Shoulder 165 Years of Railway Workers Meeting with Railroaders” Program, thanked the participants and said; The foundation of the İzmir-Aydın Railway in 1856 is considered the milestone of the railways in Anatolia. Our struggle for independence and our railway cause have always taken place in a way that supports each other.
Our railway adventure, which started with Sultan Abdülaziz, is followed by the enterprising Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, Sultan II. It gained momentum with Abdulhamid Han. Not only being the "Father of the Hejaz Railway", the "Great Hakan" gave the lifeblood of the Turkish Railways, which would rise like a magnificent plane tree.
Ghazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the leader of our young Republic, which had just come out of the War of Independence, spread this strategic move, which was initiated during the Ottoman Empire, all over the country by "weaving its homeland with iron nets".
In 2003, Turkish Railways was reconsidered under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and TCDD became one of the most important brands in the world. While Turkey met with high-speed train lines, it became the 6th country in Europe and 8th in the world using this technology. Sultan II. Abdülhamid's dream came to life under the name “Marmaray” in this period.
Of course, behind all these historical developments is the sweat of the heroic railway workers. While hundreds of railwaymen lost their lives from various diseases during the construction of the Hejaz Railways, we will never forget our railwaymen and duty martyrs who sacrificed their blood by being killed by the treacherous terrorist organization in the line of duty.
I commemorate with mercy and gratitude all the railwaymen who passed away, especially the Hero of the War of Independence and our first General Manager, the late Behiç ERKİN, who made us come to these days.
We, like our elders in our history, hold on to our work with all our hands, with our 283 thousand 803 km railway network, of which 165 km is high-speed trains, with our modern stations and stations, with our port and logistics centers, but most importantly with our heart of railwaymen that has been beating for XNUMX years, Under the leadership of our President, like our Minister, we will continue to work and reach our goals by embracing every city of Anatolia.
HASAN PEZÜK: “WE REACHED 25 MILLION TONS, CONTINUING THE INCREASING TREND IN OUR LOAD TRANSPORTATION”
TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş General Manager Hasan Pezük, who spoke at the 165 Years Railroad Workers Meeting, Shoulder to Shoulder, said; “During the pandemic that has affected the whole world, our railways have come to the fore in ensuring the continuity of trade, and the demand for railway transport has gradually increased, and 2020 million tons of cargo has been transported in 29,9. In this process, the best amount of transportation in our railway history was achieved, and 600 thousand tons of transportation increase was achieved compared to the previous year. Compared to the same period of the previous year, there was a load increase of more than 20 percent this year. Not only on the basis of quantity, but also the variety of cargo and track is increasing. In 2021, the increasing trend in our freight shipments continued and reached 25 million tons. Our daily passenger numbers have also started to approach their pre-pandemic values.”
At the event, Minister of Labor and Social Security Vedat Bilgin, Türk-İş Chairman Ergün Atalay and TÜRASAŞ General Manager Mustafa Metin Yazar referred to TCDD's 165-year history and shared their goodwill wishes.
Be the first to comment