BAKU. Azerbaijan. October 9. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has said the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule section of the Halkalı-Kapıkule High-Speed Rail Line will become a major logistics artery connecting production in Anatolia with European markets and helping accelerate Turkey’s export targets.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule High-Speed Rail Line, Erdoğan described the project as a strategically important transportation investment and thanked EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos for attending the ceremony.
The 229-kilometre Halkalı-Kapıkule High-Speed Rail Line is being developed in three sections, with the 153-kilometre Çerkezköy-Kapıkule section representing the longest stage of the project.
The line has been built as a double-track, electrified and signalling railway designed for speeds of up to 200 kilometres per hour. It includes 31 bridges, eight cut-and-cover tunnels with a combined length of 2,520 metres, two viaducts, 114 underpasses and overpasses, and 175 culverts.
Erdoğan said the project would bring Tekirdağ and Kırklareli into the high-speed rail network and extend the network to Kapıkule and the European border.
With the line becoming operational, passenger travel time between Halkalı and Kapıkule is expected to fall from four hours to one hour and 30 minutes, while freight transport time will decrease from eight hours and 30 minutes to three hours and 30 minutes.
Railway capacity is expected to increase approximately fourfold. Annual passenger capacity is projected to rise from 600,000 to 3 million, while annual freight capacity is expected to increase from 1.5 million tonnes to 9.5 million tonnes.
Erdoğan said the project would accelerate transportation, strengthen logistics and reduce travel times, contributing to increased production, exports and employment. He also said trade and tourism were expected to gain momentum.
The project also includes infrastructure upgrades at Kapıkule, Edirne, Babaeski, Lüleburgaz, Büyükkarıştıran and Çerkezköy. At Kapıkule station, the number of tracks is being increased from 23 to 42, while the total track length is rising from 15,675 metres to 51,000 metres.
