ERDOGAN: THIS IS THE PROJECT OF CENTURY
ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid the foundation of Marmaray Project- Railway Tube Passage on Sunday.
Speaking at the ceremony, Erdogan said they felt the excitement of fulfilling this project which was delayed in Istanbul.
Erdogan wished the project to be beneficial to residents of Istanbul, stating that, ''this project is not only important for Turkey but at the same time the project of the century.''
Contract for construction of the system which will connect Istanbul's Asian and European sides with an immersed tube tunnel under the Istanbul Strait was signed on Thursday.
Construction of the system was undertaken by a consortium of Turkish and Japanese companies. Construction of Turkey's first railway tube crossing is envisaged to finish until 2008. Construction of tube crossing will be financed by a 86.8 billion U.S. dollars loan obtained from the Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC). Meanwhile, nearly 700 million U.S. dollars loan will be used to finance construction of its commuter connections.
The project called ''Marmaray'' includes a 13.3 km Istanbul Strait crossing and the upgrade of 63 km of suburb line to create a 76.3 km high capacity line between Gebze and Halkali. The Istanbul Strait crossing will be done by a 1.8 km earthquake-proof immersed tube, assembled from 18 sections. This tube will be accessed by bored tunnels from Yenikapi on the European side and Sogutlucesme on the Asian side of Istanbul. Intermediate stations will be done at Sirkeci and Uskudar. An interchange station with Istanbul metro and light rail will be built at Yenikapi.
The upgrade of the suburb lines requires the laying of a third track along most of the way to increase the line capacity up to 75.000 passengers per hour in each direction. Signaling must also be modernized to allow 2 minutes headway service. The 41 stations along the line will be refurbished and the platform lengthened to 180 m.
(AY) 09.05.2004