TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş., which was established by the state with the Law on the Liberalization of Railway Transport and has been operating since January 1, 2017. Our General Directorate turns 7 years old with the new year.
The operating activities of our Company, which is the leading brand of railway operations in the national and international arena with its 167 years of railway experience and culture, were very active in 2023, and record transportations of passengers and cargo were achieved while firsts were implemented.
In 2023, the number of passengers carried by YHT, mainline, regional, Marmaray and Başkentray trains reached 250 million, and the amount of freight carried by our Company, excluding private sector train operators, reached 27 million tons.
The Ankara - Sivas high-speed railway line, which brings the eastern and western axis of our Turkey closer, was put into operation on April 26, 2023.
We started Sivas Regional Train services on June 20, 2023 to connect Malatya to Ankara and Istanbul integrated with high-speed train.
While the demand for high-speed trains, to which we serve 35 thousand passengers a day, is increasing, records have been broken in the number of daily passengers.
While we were serving in all corners of Anatolia with our conventional trains, we sent off the Touristic Eastern Express, which was put on the Ankara - Kars line for tourism purposes in the winter season, on its first voyage on December 11. Additionally, we put a train service between Kars and Erzurum for tourism purposes.
Between Izmir and Isparta, we put into service the Güller Express, which will run during the day as well as the night hours of the Göller Express.
We continue our efforts to put new trains on new routes.
On the other hand, we continued to implement the necessary practices for "Barrier-Free Transportation and Communication" in 2023.
We also broke the record in passenger transportation in 2023 in freight transportation. Our company, which carries 200 thousand tons of cargo with 88 trains a day, has delivered the world's cargo to 24 countries.
Our company, together with our entire nation, mobilized in the first months of 2023 to heal the wounds of the earthquake disaster that occurred on February 6.
With the railway potential of our country, which became a railway center in 2023, we participated in railway fairs, panels and meetings at home and abroad, and strengthened our collaborations.
2023 was also the year of firsts...
We extinguished the fire in Iskenderun port, which started due to the earthquake, with the local and national "Fire Fighting and Rescue Train" that we added to our vehicle fleet.
While receiving our National Electric Train produced by TÜRASAŞ with a ceremony, we had the pleasure of starting its first journey with Ada Express.
As TCDD Transportation, which specializes in hazardous material transportation, we have added the Railway LPG Transportation License to the Fuel Transportation License.
We continued to deliver humanitarian aid materials to Pakistan and Afghanistan from our heartfelt geographies with our "Kindness Trains".
We continued our digital transformation journey in 2023. We have implemented digital applications to ensure effective and efficient passenger and freight transportation.
We prepared our 2024-28 Strategic Plan with the contributions of our internal and external stakeholders and determined our route and targets in railway transportation of the second century of our Republic.
As TCDD Transportation, we continued to contribute to social responsibility projects with the awareness that the train is not just a means of transportation. In this context, in order to meet the housing needs of Malatya İnönü University healthcare workers, obsolete wagons were recycled and converted into ecological wagon houses in cooperation with TCDD Transportation, İnönü University, Machinery and Chemical Industry and the private sector.
The most exciting and proudest date of 2023 was the 100th Anniversary of our Republic.
Under the leadership of our President, Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we have made a strong start to the Turkey Century, taking firm steps into the Turkey Century with many projects and services offered to the service of our nation. We felt the justified pride and happiness of the railway mobilization on the 10th anniversary of our Republic, just like on its 100th anniversary. We celebrated the 1th anniversary of Marmaray, whose number of passengers has exceeded 10 billion to date.
In the last month of the year, our Train Monitoring and Coordination Center was put into service by our Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Mr. Abdulkadir Uraloğlu. In the center; Fatigue, sleep, distraction, etc. of drivers traveling on the train. It will be ensured that situations are detected by the software with image processing and artificial intelligence capabilities, an alarm is generated on the system, and then the warnings are examined and necessary measures are taken. Thus, safer passenger and freight transportation will be achieved by increasing the navigation safety of the locomotives in the fleet of our Company, whose priority is safety.
We have to work harder, produce more and become the strongest country in this difficult geography in 2024, when I hope that the genocide committed against our brothers in Gaza, which the world ignores, will end.
2024 and TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş. I hope that the 8th year of the General Directorate will be beneficial to our country and our sector, and I hope that the new year will bring peace, tranquility, abundance and well-being to the world, our country and humanity.
Let the Türkiye Century also be the century of transportation...
Ufuk YALCIN
General Director of TCDD