The Ankara-Konya high speed rail line, a high quality double-track enabling speeds of up to 300 km/h, was inaugurated by Turkish Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 23 August.
Transport Minister Mr Binali Yıldırım, Director-General of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Mr Süleyman Karaman as well as many personalities and press members, accompanied the Prime Minister who travelled from Ankara to Konya by high speed train – “YHT”.
Indicating that the travel time on the Konya-Ankara high speed line is now approximately 1h 30 minutes and that the time will be reduced to 1h 15 minutes after the new high speed train sets are procured, the Prime Minister also expressed that the Konya-Ankara high speed line was completed in four and a half years, whereas the construction period for high speed rail lines in the world normally varies between 5 and 13 years.
The total length of the high speed line is 309 km and 98 km of this total length is on the Ankara-Eskişehir high speed rail line which was inaugurated in 2009.
When the ongoing construction studies of the Eskişehir-Istanbul high speed line are completed, the travel time between Konya and Istanbul will be reduced to 3h 30 minutes.
The test runs of the Ankara-Konya high speed line, whose foundation was laid in 2006 and finished in 4 years and 8 months, was started by the Prime Minister Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 17 December 2010 with a ceremony in Konya Station.
Over 100,000 km of test runs have been performed on the Ankara-Konya high speed line and 275 km/h was reached during these tests.
Three million people are expected to be transported annually between Ankara and Konya.
General characteristics of the line
- Total Length : 309 km
- Length of construction : 212 km
- Project speed : 300 km/h
- Min. Curve Radius : 6500 m
- Max. Slope : %o 16
- Travel Time : 1 h 30 min
- Cost : TL 950 mil.
