ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News
The Istanbul mayor and other officials pose in their construction gear.
Istanbul will receive its first fully computerized metro trains in 2011, according to Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş.
“With the advance technology we are using, the wagons will be able to enter into the system without the presence a conductor when required,” Topbaş said Wednesday during a speech at the under-construction Küçükyalı Station on Istanbul Anatolian side.
Küçükyolu is the ninth station on the 16-station Kadıköy-Kartal metro line.
The construction of the metro line was started in March 2008 and was continuing apace, said Topbaş, adding that the 22-kilometer line was part of a metro project costing $1.5 billion.
“In a single line 70,000 commuters will be transported an hour and the total commute time will be diminished to 29 minutes between Kadıköy and Kartal,” said Topbaş, noting that approximately a million passengers would benefit from the metro line every day.
Topbaş said 83 percent of the construction, 40 percent of the detailed work and 21 percent of the electro-mechanical work on the line had already been completed.
“We are hoping to do a test drive in May 2011 while the project will be ready for use at the end of 2011,” said Topbaş.
The construction of 15 of the 16 stations was continuing, while Ayrılık Çeşme, which the Kadıköy-Kartal line is sharing with the Marmaray rail project, was finished in December, said Topbaş, adding that they planned to extend the metro line to the Asian side’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport in the upcoming years.
The stations connecting Kadıköy and Kartal metro line include İbrahimağa, Acıbadem, Ünalan, Göztepe, Yeni Sahra, Kozyatağı, Bostancı, Küçükyalı, Ayrılık Çeşme, Maltepe, Gülsuyu, Cevizli, Hastane and Soğanlık.
The metro project owned by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality is being realized by Avrasya Metro Group, a joint venture of Astaldi, Mak-yol, and Gülermak.