Following the article published in UIC e-news Nr 173 on high-speed train operations in Turkey, other important ongoing projects should be mentioned.

Construction of the Eskisehir-Istanbul high-speed line, as part of the second phase in the building of the high-speed rail line connecting Ankara to Istanbul, is ongoing and scheduled to be inaugurated in 2013. Infrastructure works on the Ankara (Polatlı) - Konya High Speed Line (212 km) have been completed and superstructure works started in July 2009. The Ankara-Konya high-speed line will be opened in late 2010. Its completion, with a design speed of 250 km/hr, will mean a journey time of 1 hour 15 minutes from Ankara to Konya and will reduce the travelling time between Konya and Istanbul to 3 hours 30 minutes.

Construction of the Ankara-Sivas high-speed line started in 2009. This project will shorten the existing line by 141 km from 602 km to 461 km. The travelling time between Ankara and Sivas will be 2 hours 51 minutes.

In addition, studies on the high-speed line projects from Ankara-Izmir (594 km), Bursa-Osmaneli (106 km), Istanbul-Edirne (230 km) and Ankara (Yerköy)-Kayseri (150 km) are being carried out.

Istanbul Strait Tube Tunnel (Marmaray Project)

Construction of the Istanbul Strait Tube Tunnel is progressing rapidly and is scheduled to open in late 2013.

The Istanbul Strait Tube Tunnel Project is regarded as the project of the century and is of great importance in linking Asia to Europe directly by rail. In the scope of the project, 1387m of immersed tube tunnel and a total of 13558m of tunnel is planned for construction. The existing railway line between Halkalı, on the European side, and Gebze, on the Asian side, will be completely renewed, and the number of tracks increased to three. Two lines of this route, covering a total of 76 km in length, will provide services to urban transportation and other lines will be used by YHT trains.