ISTANBUL: Turkiye ‌has reached preliminary agreements with six international lenders to secure $6.75 billion for a new railway ​line across the Bosphorus in what would be Turkiye’s largest foreign-financed railway project, Transport Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said on Tuesday.
Once completed, the line that will pass through north Istanbul is expected to carry 33 million passengers ‌and 30 million ‌tons of freight ​annually, ‌he ⁠said, ​adding that ⁠it will open “a new era in logistics” by boosting the country’s rail capacity between Asia and Europe.
The funding will support the 125 km (78 mile) long Northern Ring Railway Project, which will ⁠carry passengers and freight from Gebze ‌to Halkali via ‌the Yavuz Sultan Selim ​Bridge connecting Istanbul’s ‌two main airports.
Preliminary deals were reached ‌with the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development and the European Bank ‌for Reconstruction and Development, the minister said.
“We aim to complete ⁠the ⁠tender process and hand over the site this year so that (construction) work can start,” Uraloglu said.
An uninterrupted rail freight across the Bosphorus Strait is currently possible through the Marmaray railway tunnel and only during limited hours daily. According to the ministry’s website, a total of just 1.7 million tons of cargo ​were transported through ​Marmaray between 2020 and October 2025.