ANKARA - Suleyman Karaman, the Director General of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), said on Thursday that he and German Railways Director General Hartmut Mehdorn would take up renewal of vehicles, purchase and rent of trains, and train service between Istanbul and Cologne in their meeting.
Karaman and Mehdorn held a joint press conference on cooperation of the railways of two countries.
Karaman said that Turkey's commercial relations with Germany topped its commercial relations with other European countries.
Annual trade volume between Turkey and Germany was around 10 billion U.S. dollars, Karaman noted.
Karaman stated that 5 million tons of cargo was transported between two countries annually, adding that 59 percent of the cargo was transported by sea, 39 percent by highway and 1 percent by railway.
Renewal of vehicles, purchase and rent of rapid trains, suburban trains, and cargo cars, train service between Istanbul and Cologne, technical cooperation opportunities, and generation of common projects within the scope of European Union (EU) vocational training program would be taken up in their meetings with Mehdorn, Karaman said.
Mehdorn said that railways had lost their share in the market in the last decade and added, ''more investments are being made on highways due to political reasons. But, Renaissance has started for the railways in Central Europe and Germany. The share of railways in the market, the number of passengers and cargo are gradually increasing there. Efforts are exerted on modernization of both buildings and vehicles.''
German Railways Director General Mehdorn said that they were ready to cooperate with Turkey in privatization of railways.
Asked about initiatives to privatize railways in Turkey, Karaman said that the Supreme Planning Board (YPK) had a decision that the private sector could manage railways and added, ''we want to make cooperation with the private sector. But, the private sector hasn't had any initiative yet.''
Karaman added that preparations of a new bill on separation of infrastructure and management of railways were under way as a part of adjustment to the EU.
(BRC-AÖ) 04.09.2003