Tag: TCDD

  • EIB provides EUR 400 million for Istanbul-Ankara High Speed Rail Line

    EIB provides EUR 400 million for Istanbul-Ankara High Speed Rail Line

    The European Investment Bank provided EUR 400 million in favour of the Turkish State Railways TCDD as a further contribution to the country’s main transport corridor between Ankara and Istanbul. The additional funding brings the total EIB support for the high speed railway line (HSL) to EUR 1.25 billion and the total value of EIB support for the Turkish rail system in the last decade to some EUR 2.4 billion. This facility further consolidates the position of EIB as Turkey’s key financial partner for the funding of priority railway projects and the country’s efforts to re-balance its transport mode mix in favour of the railways.

    This flagship project was first financed by the EIB in 2006. It aims at building the country’s first high speed railway between the country’s two largest cities. The project will lead to significant time gains for travelers along the corridor and will assist economic development and quality of life as well as generating significant environmental benefits. The project constitutes a key element of the Government’s plans to increase the share of rail transport by improving productivity and effectiveness of railway operations. It will interconnect with the Marmaray Bosphorus Tunnel, enabling train connections across the two continents. In addition, the project is strongly supportive of key strategic objectives of EU policy and is a continuation of the Pan-European Corridor IV. The European Union is also providing a grant of EUR 120 million to the HSL project through its Instruments for Pre-Accession (IPA) funds. This project is therefore an excellent example of the complementary use of EU grants and EIB loans for this priority investment in the sustainable transport infrastructure of the country.

    via EIB provides EUR 400 million for Istanbul-Ankara High Speed Rail Line.

  • A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train

    A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train

    30 October 2011, Sunday / ALI ASLAN KILIÇ, ANKARA

    tren

    Turkish Parliament Speaker Cemil Çiçek met with the migrants in the commemorative train that set off to Germany to mark the 50th anniversary since the first group of Turks left their homeland for a new life in Germany as part of a labor agreement signed by the two countries. (Photo: AA)

    I have spent most of the week traveling between İstanbul and Munich. This was an extraordinary trip that I am unlikely to have again.

    The Turkey-Munich train journey sponsored by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) and organized by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) to mark the 50th anniversary of the first wave of Turkish migration to Germany featured unforgettable memories.

    This was in fact a remembrance of the forgotten people and citizens. The Turkey-Germany train ride was a symbol of the message: “We have forgotten you for five decades, but we have not totally abandoned you. We have failed to respond to your demands and problems, but now, we are there for you as the state.”

    We, the parliament speaker, deputies, artists, writers, bureaucrats and journalists, heard the emotions and thoughts of our workers and tried to better understand them.

    The number two of the state, Cemil Çiçek, who joined the trip for the Belgrade leg of the journey, made a concise statement: “Both we, Turkey, and the countries hosting our workers, including Germany Austria, France, Holland and Belgium, have to make a thorough evaluation.” Neither Turkey nor Germany or other countries were aware of the outcome of a labor exchange agreement that they signed 50 years ago. The culture shock to be experienced by the people who were moving towards uncertainty out of hope for a better future, the problems they would encounter, their demands of their children and expectations were not considered back then. In a way, Turkey sent these people and forgot about them, while Germany thought they would stay temporarily and then go back to their home country.

    However, this did not happen. Hasibe Altun, who moved to Germany assuming that she would come back one year later, said she had been there for 41 years, bringing to light the reality that the German and Turkish governments failed to address.

    I wish the Turkey-Germany train could have made the journey on the 10th, 20th and 25th anniversaries of the migration so that this would have served as an opportunity to identify the problems and negligence as well as address the problems of the guest workers before I was too late.

    On the train, hopes, negligence, sadness and homesickness were expressed and voiced. In addition to the sadness associated with having been forgotten for five decades, these people also expressed their happiness at being remembered. The attendants cried out of sadness and the feeling of being a guest worker was eloquently articulated by TRT artists Zeynep Cihan and Metin Altun through heart-rending folk songs. Writers Ayla Kutlu and Nazlı Eray discussed the notion of being an immigrant and guest worker as well as the relation between an individual and the place.

    People from different social and ethnic backgrounds, with different feelings and emotions, focused on the same issue during the five-day trip. Diversity should be celebrated. It is pleasant to become acquainted despite differences. We traveled through many villages and towns, as well as the cities of Sofia, Belgrade, Zagreb and Salzburg and breathed in the beauty of the nature in the fall. It was an unforgettable trip. The best part was that the people who traveled five decades ago were now confident in themselves and what they would be able to achieve because both Turkey and Germany were aware of them. They have already left their troubles behind and are ready to embrace the future.

    Thanks to TRT and the TCDD, and thanks to everyone who contributed to this endeavor.

    via A talk with Turkish guest workers on Turkey-Germany train.

  • Direct Budapest-Istanbul rail service to be reestablished in 2012

    Direct Budapest-Istanbul rail service to be reestablished in 2012

    MTI – Econews

    Thursday 10:25, May 19th, 2011

    The Turkish and Hungarian state railways have agreed to reestablish direct rail service between Budapest and Istanbul in 2012, Hungarian state railways MAV told MTI.

    Trains should begin running directly between Hungary and Turkey during the summer of next year, MAV said.

    MAV expects significant interest from western Europe and North America for the direct service first inaugurated in 1889 and subsequently discontinued.

    via Direct Budapest-Istanbul rail service to be reestablished in 2012 | The Budapest Business Journal on the web | bbj.hu.

  • Istanbul to host meeting of Union of Int’l Railways

    Istanbul to host meeting of Union of Int’l Railways

    Participants will discuss RAME 2010 budget and projects taking place in 2011-2012 Action Plan during the meeting.

    Sunday, 21 November 2010 16:16

    tcddThe 8th meeting of the Union of International Railways (UIC) Regional Assembly for the Middle-East (RAME) will take place in Istanbul on November 23.

    Turkish State Railways (TCDD) stated on Sunday that besides TCDD’s Director General Suleyman Karaman, UIC Director General Jean Pierre Loubinoux, directors and representatives of Iranian Railways, Syrian Railways, Syrian Hicaz Railways, Iraqi Railways, Jordan Aqaba Railways, Jordan Hicaz Railways, NIROO, HIZTAS and METRA would attend the meeting at Crown Plaza Old City Hotel.

    Participants will discuss RAME 2010 budget and projects taking place in 2011-2012 Action Plan during the meeting.

    Karaman has been the Chairman of RAME since 2007.

    AA