Türkiye: the railway sector opens up to private investment

In Turkey, the railway sector is no longer an exclusive state: from today the accepted investments are also those coming from the private sector.

Indeed, Ankara intends to involve the private sector in the management of the state railways, after a long period of public monopoly. A bill was recently presented in Parliament which aims to create a public company for the management of railway transport: the novelty consists in the fact that both public and private companies will be able to obtain the license for the construction of their own railway network, act as railway operators and deal with the management of trains on the national railway network.

The sections would therefore remain in the hands of the State, but with a management similar to that which already occurs for airports and motorways, whereby the concession rights would be transferred to private companies for a maximum period of 49 years.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said that Turkey's investments in the sector exceeded 2,000 million euros in 2012 compared to 97 in 2011, for a total investment that has reached 11,000 million euros in the last 10 years.

According to Yildirim, investments in the railway sector in Turkey will reach 19,000 million euros in 2023 for high-speed trains: the goal concerns the connection of 15 cities and the overall length of the railway network will increase, according to Yildirim, from 11,000 km to 25,500 km. A project for the construction of high-speed lines between the Black Sea region and southeastern Turkey is also under study.

Manlio Urbano – railway sector in Türkiye

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