Think Railways

The long-awaited high-speed railway line between Ankara and Istanbul will be opened on July 11, Transport Minister Lütfi Elvan said on July 2.

The opening of the line, which was postponed in May after signaling cables were cut and stolen, will cut the journey time between the two cities to three and a half hours. It currently takes around six hours by road.

A test run of the railway line was successfully completed said Elvan. Turkish State Railways had announced in January that it would invest almost half of its 2014 budget (1.8 billion Turkish Liras) into high-speed trains, as part of a wide array of construction projects planned for Turkey’s founding anniversary in 2023.

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