Erdogan trumpets high-speed train as polls loom

Published July 26, 2014
Ankara: The first high-speed train linking Istanbul to Ankara gets ready to leave the train station here on Friday.—AFP
Ankara: The first high-speed train linking Istanbul to Ankara gets ready to leave the train station here on Friday.—AFP

ISTANBUL: Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated a $4 billion high-speed train link between Istanbul and Ankara on Friday, the latest in a series of “mega projects” he hopes will help him win a presidential election in a few weeks time.

Turkey’s economic development — driven partly by major infrastructure projects — has been the foundation of Erdogan’s popularity despite deepening discontent among his opponents at what they see as growing authoritarianism.

“Twelve years ago, a fast train was nothing more than a dream ... We are now a country which makes its dreams come true,” Erdogan said in the western city of Eskisehir where he stopped during the journey, escorted by five helicopters including two Cobra attack aircraft.

“Despite sabotage, obstructions and efforts to slow it down, we have finished this line and are putting it into service,” he told a flag-waving crowd.

The launch — which comes just over three weeks ahead of the presidential election but a year before the line will be fully operational as it currently runs only to the outskirts of Istanbul — was delayed by a few months due to what officials described as sabotage and a test train crash on July 3.

Turkey is constructing a network of high-speed rail links as it looks to ease the burden on increasingly congested highways.

Erdogan’s other projects include a 50-km channel to rival the Suez Canal that would render half of Istanbul an island, an airport which Ankara claims will be the world’s biggest and a giant mosque atop an Istanbul hill.

The construction of a third bridge over the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul is under way and nuclear power stations are also on the drawing table. Turkey plans to spend $250 billion on roads, energy and IT infrastructure alone over the next decade.

The trains on the new link, made by Spain’s CAF and with a top speed of 250 kmh, will initially cover the 533-km distance in 3-1/2 hours, significantly faster than existing journey times of between six and eight hours.

The line is planned to link up next year with the $2.8 billion Marmaray rail link below the Bosphorus Strait in Istanbul, the first underwater rail link between Asia and Europe, which Erdogan opened last October.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2014

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.