TURKEY: rail sector opens to private investment

In Turkey, the railway sector is no longer exclusive to the state: as of today, accepted investments are also from the private sector.

Indeed, Ankara intends to involve the private sector in the management of the state-owned railways after a long period of public monopoly. A bill aimed at creating a public company to manage rail transport was recently introduced in parliament: the novelty is that both public and private companies will be able to obtain a license to build their own rail network, act as rail operators and take care of the management of trains on the national rail network.

The routes would then remain in the hands of the state, but with management similar to what is already done for airports and highways, whereby concession rights would be transferred to private companies for up to 49 years.

Transport Minister Binali Yildirim said Turkey's investment in the sector exceeded 2,000 million euros in 2012 compared to 97 million euros in 2011, for a total investment of 11,000 million euros over the past 10 years.

Also reported by Yildirim, investment in Turkey's rail sector will reach 19,000 million euros for high-speed trains in 2023: the target is to connect 15 cities, and the overall length of the rail network will increase from 11,000 km to 25,500 km, according to Yildirim. A project to build high-speed lines between the Black Sea region and southeastern Turkey is also being studied.

Manlio Urbano - railway sector in Turkey

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