Speaking about the ‘Gayrettepe-Kagithane-Istanbul Airport Metro Line Project’, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu said, “We put our first trains on the rails on September 8, 2020. At this point in November 2021, we will start the first signaling test drives.”
The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu, who made examinations at the Kagithane metro station within the scope of the Gayrettepe-Kagithane-Istanbul Airport Metro Line Project, made statements regarding the last point reached in the studies:
“With our Istanbul Airport, which supports our claim to be a global hub in air traffic, this 37.5 kilometer long metro line that reaches Gokturk, Kemerburgaz, Kagithane and Besiktas consists of 9 stations. In our project, we have completed our tunnel works by opening 76 thousand 509 meters of tunnel so far. We finished 97.5% of the concrete works by pouring 1 million 518 thousand 322 cubic meters of concrete. By installing 74 thousand 20 kilometers of rails, we reached a rate of 96.6% in these works. We created a closed area of 154 thousand 448 square meters at our stations. We carried out the project in which the most tunnel boring machines in Turkey were used, with 10 TBMs at the same time.
We completed the work of the last TBM on May 10, 2020 on our metro line, where we made the first rail welding with the presence of our President, in January 2020, and reached Gayrettepe station. On September 8, 2020, we put our first trains on the rails. At this point in November 2021, we will start the first signaling test drives.”
TURKEY’S FASTEST METRO IS IN KAGITHANE
“Our metro line will be integrated with the Kabatas-Mahmutbey metro line from the surface at our Kagithane station, where the finishing works are in progress. At your Gayrettepe station, it will be integrated into the Yenikapi-Taksim-Haciosman metro. In addition, the Arnavutkoy-Basaksehir-Halkali metro, which is under construction by our Ministry, will continue until Kucukcekmece Marmaray and our metro line will reach 70 kilometers.
The trains to be operated on our line will operate first automatically, then without a driver, and will reach a record urban rail system speed of 120 kilometers per hour. In other words, it will be the fastest metro in our country. Over 600 thousand passengers will be transported per day on the line, which is planned to have a one-way passenger capacity of 38 thousand 400 per hour. I would like to express with pleasure that the total progress rate of the project is 91.86%.”
25 MINUTES BETWEEN KAGITHANE AND ISTANBUL AIRPORT
Kagithane Mayor Mevlut Oztekin accompanied Minister Karaismailoglu during his metro visit. Mayor Oztekin stated that the metro project will provide benefits to Kagithane in many areas and said, “When our citizens get on the metro from Kagithane, they will be able to reach Istanbul Airport in 25 minutes. This will carry our district forward in tourism, trade and employment, especially in transportation. In addition to the public sector, our Kagithane has also received many investments from the private sector. In the last 2 years, Kagithane has become the new address of private sector investments such as hotels, hospitals, universities and airline companies. At this point, I would like to express my respect and gratitude to our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, our ministers, our deputies, for their support to Kagithane. I wish the best of luck to all our employees, from engineers to workers, who contributed to the realization of the metro project.”
Minister Karaismailoglu and Mayor Oztekin went to Kagithane Municipality together after the metro examinations. Oztekin informed Minister Karaismailoglu about the current and new term studies. After the consultation, Minister Karaismailoglu and President Oztekin walked around the Sadabad promenade and examined the historical artifacts that have been restored.
Source: Sabah / Translated by Irem Yildiz