ISTANBUL – TDN with wire dispatches

The head of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) said yesterday that the country's first high-speed train will begin test runs this month, the Anatolia news agency reported. "The high-speed train service would start in 2008 if the test runs between capital Ankara and central Anatolian province of Eskişehir were conducted successfully," said the report, quoting TCDD's Director General Süleyman Karaman. If everything goes according to plan, the train is expected to start transporting passengers within the year, he said.

Karaman noted that the Ankara-Eskişehir line was completed, and the TCDD planned to start the construction of Eskişehir-Istanbul line this year. Referring to similar high-speed train projects in other countries, Karaman said the countries generally preferred to construct the first line between the capital city and an industrial hub. "Therefore, we have started the construction work between Ankara and Istanbul," he said. Meanwhile, he said that the infrastructure of the high-speed train project between Ankara and central Anatolian province of Sivas was almost finished. "With this project, it will take two hours to travel from Ankara to Sivas, and such line has significance as it will connect Turkey's east to the west," he said. Karaman said the state company also aims to connect İzmir and Bursa by speed train. �This way, Istanbul-İzmir-Bursa will all be connected,� he added.

Moreover, with the implementation of high-speed train service, modern stations would be built across the country, said the report, adding that the first modern train station complex, which would include a hotel and a shopping mall, would be constructed in Ankara. Turkey started building high-speed rail lines between Ankara and Istanbul in 2003. The first phase of the project was the line between Ankara and Eskişehir. High-speed train will lower the 180-minute train travel from Ankara to Eskişehir to 70 minutes, said the report. TCDD purchased first high-speed train sets, with a maximum speed of 250 km per hour, from Spain's CAF company last year, it added.
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