Turkey plans to connect four strategic cities in the south of the country – Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep – by 2028 through a high-speed rail project that is currently 85% complete, according to the Turkish transport minister, who said the new railway line will carry more than 3 million passengers a year and “will reduce train travel time from the current 6 hours and 23 minutes, to just 2 hours and 15 minutes”.
Once completed, the project will drastically shorten the current travel time – close to 6 hours – to just over 2 hours, said the Turkish Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu; in a written statement quoted by Turkish media, Uraloğlu indicated that the 312.5 kilometre long Mersin-Adana-Gaziantep high-speed line will be electrified and will have advanced signalling systems, which will make it suitable for both passenger and freight transport.
The project includes the adaptation of the existing infrastructure between Mersin and Adana to high-speed standards, as well as the construction of new sections. Uraloğlu explained that the existing 361-kilometre route between Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Gaziantep has been rebuilt to meet high freight transport standards and allow speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour for passenger trains.
“With the new configuration, we will reduce the route to 312.5 kilometres and the travel time between Mersin and Gaziantep from 6 hours and 23 minutes, to 2 hours and 15 minutes… We aim to carry an average of 3.1 million passengers and about 37.1 million tonnes of freight per year,” he added.
The project will be completed in 2028
The minister reported that the project is already 85% complete. In particular, the connection to Çukurova airport in Adana is 90% complete, while the Tarsus section is 80% complete. In addition, the 17-kilometre section between Toprakkale and Mamure has been also finished. To complete this infrastructure, 13 tunnels, 32 bridges and 11 viaducts have been built, with a total length of 6,396 metres.
“We plan to complete all works on the project by 2028,” announced Uraloğlu, who also stressed that one of the central objectives of this high-speed train project is to strengthen the connection between the industries of Gaziantep and the port of Mersin, facilitating faster and more efficient access to international markets.
By 2027, Turkey will have more than 4,000 km of high-speed lines
In the last two decades, Türkiye has remarkably developed its network of high-speed lines. The first Turkish high-speed rail line, between Ankara and Eskişehir, entered service in 2009, marking the beginning of a rail expansion that was later completed with the line between Polatlı (Ankara) and Konya, opened in 2011, and the connection between Ankara and Istanbul, opened in 2014.
In April 2023, the Ankara-Sivas high-speed line was put into operation, drastically reducing travel times between the two cities. With plans to extend it further in the coming years with new corridors such as the Ankara-Izmir high-speed train, scheduled for completion in 2027, or the Konya-Ulukışla (Niğde)-Yenice (Mersin) line, Turkey’s high-speed network is expected to exceed 4,000 kilometres in length by 2027.
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Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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