Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu inspected the T26 Tunnel construction site in Bilecik, which will reduce the travel times of trains on the Ankara-Istanbul and Konya-Istanbul High Speed Train Lines. Making a statement to the press, Minister Uraloğlu said, “We received detailed information from our colleagues about the latest situation in the project and we personally evaluated the progress in our work.” he said.
Emphasizing that they have treated railways as a state policy with the development moves they have initiated since 2002 under the leadership of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Uraloğlu made the following statements in his statement:
“We see more clearly the results of the strong investments we have made in the field of railways in the last 24 years. Rail passenger transportation has entered a new era in our country, especially with high-speed trains. High-speed trains not only connected cities to each other, but also radically changed the transportation habits of our citizens. They have become a particularly preferred means of transportation thanks to the comfort, economy, high speed and safety advantages they offer.”
“APPROXIMATELY 110 MILLION OUR CITIZENS HAVE TRAVELED ON HIGH-SPEED TRAINS TO DATE”
Uraloğlu pointed out that today, the majority of citizens traveling from Ankara to Eskişehir, Istanbul or Sivas prefer the railway. Uraloğlu said, “Approximately 110 million citizens have traveled on high-speed trains, which first started operating on the Ankara-Eskişehir line in 2009.” He made a statement.
Stating that 2025 will be an efficient and successful year in terms of railway transportation, Uraloğlu said, “During the last year, we provided service to approximately 283 million passengers on our high-speed trains, mainline trains, regional trains and urban lines. Approximately 12 million passengers preferred high-speed trains and our busiest line was the Ankara-Istanbul line with approximately 6 million passengers. Since the start of service, we have served 42 million passengers with our Ankara-Istanbul High Speed Train Line.” “600 thousand of our citizens traveled.” shared his knowledge.
“WE WILL CONNECT ALL SIDES OF OUR COUNTRY WITH HIGH-SPEED TRAIN LINES AND VISIT THE WHOLE Türkiye IN 48 HOURS”
Uraloğlu also said that they continue the construction of new high-speed train lines such as Ankara-İzmir, Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli, Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep, Halkalı – Kapıkule, Yerköy-Kayseri, Kırıkkale-Çorum, Karaman – Ulukışla.
Stating that they aim to extend the railway network to 17 thousand 287 kilometers in 2028 and increase the number of provinces directly connected by high-speed train to 27, Uraloğlu said, “Hopefully, in 2053, we will connect all parts of our country with high-speed train lines and visit the whole of Türkiye in 48 hours.” he said.
Making a statement about the T26 Tunnel they examined, Uraloğlu continued his words as follows:
“Our 5,587-meter T26 Tunnel, located in the Bozüyük-Bilecik section of the Ankara-Istanbul High-Speed Railway Line, is one of the most critical points of the line. Because, with the completion of the T26 Tunnel and its connection to the high-speed train line, the 8-kilometer high-speed train line will begin to be used instead of the currently used 9.1-kilometer conventional line. Thus, our trains in this section will run at 250 km per hour instead of 55 km per hour. “It will be possible to travel uninterruptedly at a speed of 1.5 km, the section that takes 20 minutes will be reduced to 9 minutes, and train meeting delays caused by a single line will be completely eliminated.”
TARGET FOR T26 TUNNEL IS 2027
Summarizing the latest situation in the works, Uraloğlu said, “The tunnel, including the security tunnels and cut-and-cover manufacturing, was completed by the end of last year. In other words, we have completed the excavation works and support works of our tunnels and opened the tunnels in this sense. Our superstructure electrification and signaling works continue rapidly. According to our plans, we will complete the superstructure manufacturing in the third quarter of 2026, and the electrification and signaling manufacturing at the end of 2026 and the first quarter of 2027.” “Of course, we aimed to open this line together with T26 and its connections within months of this completion, that is, before the middle of 2027.” he said.
WORKS CONTINUE BETWEEN SAPANCA AND GEYVE
Noting that infrastructure, superstructure and electromechanical construction works continue at full speed on the 12-kilometer route between Sapanca and Geyve, Uraloğlu continued his words as follows:
“The physical progress of the work in that section is at the level of 65 percent. We plan to complete our work and put it into service in the first half of 2028, hopefully in the first half of 2028, if we do not experience any disruption in the tunnels. Under the leadership of our President, we will continue to uphold the vision of ‘Weaving our homeland with iron networks’. We will connect our country with a faster, safer and more modern railway network with the new projects that are under construction and will be implemented. Both T26 and “When we finish our work in the Sapanca region, we will shorten our travel time between Ankara and Istanbul by half an hour.”
TRAVEL TIME WILL BE REDUCED BY 30 MINUTES
When the Sapanca-Doğançay Ripage and Bilecik T26 tunnel are completed, the journey between Ankara and Istanbul, which takes 4 hours and 7 minutes, is expected to be reduced to 3 hours and 37 minutes.
