Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Adil Karaismailoğlu, presented their awards to the winners of the Photography Contest. Karaismailoğlu, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, who participated in the "Starts Upon Arrival Photo Contest Award Ceremony" organized by the General Directorate of TCDD Taşımacılık AŞ under the auspices of the Ministry, reminded that the railway sector in the world started with the Industrial Revolution in the 1830s.
Noting that Turkey is one of the first countries in the world in this field with its 166-year history, Karaismailoğlu said that in the first years of the Republic, great works were carried out within the framework of the vision of "weaving the homeland with iron nets", however, no railway investment was made in the 1950-2002 period, and even the existing lines were not protected.
WE AIM TO INCREASE OUR CITY, MEETING BY SPEED TRAIN, TO 52
Emphasizing that they have done important works in the railway sector under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Karaismailoğlu said, “Today, we have 8 cities that meet with high-speed train, our goal is to increase this to 52. In 2002 there was an extremely inadequate transport infrastructure. After a 65 percent land-based investment period, with emphasis on road infrastructure first, production and mobility increased in all parts of Anatolia. Citizens started to work in their own country," he said.
Pointing out that they have also completed the infrastructures in the airline sector, Karaismailoğlu stated that they entered a railway-based investment period from now on.
INVESTMENTS CONTINUE IN THE RAILWAY LINE OF 4 KM
Karaismailoğlu stated that 4 thousand 500 kilometers of railway investments continue throughout Turkey, and that there are feverish works on the Bursa-Ankara and Ankara-İzmir lines. Underlining that they will open the Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train Line in April 2023, Karaismailoğlu stated that they aim to increase the current railway network from 13 thousand kilometers to 2053 thousand kilometers in 28. Pointing out that railways are also very valuable in terms of reducing emissions and logistics costs in production, Karaismailoğlu said that their investments to connect organized industrial zones (OIZ) and ports with junction lines continue. Pointing out that the logistics center activities also continue, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu noted that they aim to increase the number of logistics centers from 13 to 26. Informing that they predict that the number of passengers carried on the railways will increase from 19,5 million to 2053 million in 270, Karaismailoğlu said, “Last year, we transported 38 million tons of freight by rail. As a result of the investments we will make, we aim to increase the freight capacity on the railways to 448 million tons.”
WE ARE CONDUCTING MEETINGS ON INCREASING THE CAPACITY OF THE CENTRAL CORRIDOR
Pointing out that they have made important meetings and studies with neighboring countries to increase the capacity and efficiency of the Middle Corridor, Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu announced that the Touristic East Express will also start new flights. Karaismailoğlu said, “Hopefully, in the coming years, policies will be developed that can extend the Eastern Express from here to Baku, Kazakhstan and beyond. Likewise, we will definitely see trains like the Orient Express, which departed from Paris and came to Istanbul years ago, on our rails in the coming years. Because these are the needs and capacity issues. As we make our investments and make our infrastructure suitable for this type of transportation, there will be important developments in reflecting the railway culture to the whole world. We have investment ideas that will increase comfort and safety on both the freight and passenger side, and will have a significant impact on tourism, in particular.”
WE INCLUDE DOMESTIC AND NATIONAL PRODUCTION IN PROJECTS
Drawing attention to the importance of the vehicles and equipment used in the railways, Karaismailoğlu stated that Turkey has become self-sufficient in this field and that they have included and will include domestic and national production in various projects they have implemented recently. In addition to this, Karaismailoğlu stated that the national electric train with a speed of 160 kilometers will be introduced in the coming days, “We are continuing our efforts to develop our train, which can reach a speed of 225 kilometers, locally and nationally. Railway vehicles and equipment are very important in the growing and developing sector. For this reason, our country has left behind important steps in both producing this and exporting these vehicles abroad.”
Thanking the photographers participating in the competition for reflecting the railway culture in their photographs, Karaismailoğlu presented their awards to the winners.
Be the first to comment