Italy takes the High-Speed Challenge in Turkey
23 May 2007 10:49
MER MEC advanced technology for the Turkish High Speed Line inspection
MER MEC, in cooperation with some of the FS-Group companies (Rete Ferroviaria Italiana, ITALCERTIFER), will provide Turkish Railways (TCDD) with services and technologies that will be employed along the new Ankara-Instanbul line, the first Turkish high-speed line that will link the two metropolis in only three hours and ten minutes as opposed to the current six hours and 30 minutes.
On the 6th of April, MER MEC signed a contract with Turkish railways to furnish and exercise the latest RFIs high-speed measuring train. This high-speed testing train, onboard which the company has installed its technological systems, is an ETR 500 that is suitably engineered to be entirely dedicated to diagnostics activities. The train will be engaged on Turkish high-speed lines for four months and it will act as a testing train.
Competitiveness and experience of the Italian system in safety technologies and railways management have therefore been the key of the Italian success which has characterized the tender published by TCDD for the diagnostics and the certification of its high speed lines.
These companies deserve the results of having faced and won the challenge of Turkish railways. The task has seen MER MEC, RFI and Italcertifer in competition with Nations-systems as in Germany, France and Spain, always present in the railway field and active in the globalisation challenge.
A tangible sign of appreciation for the deployed resources has come from Turkish Government which, in a note to our Foreign Ministry, Massimo D'Alema, mentions the ongoing initiative as proof that the cooperation between the two countries will be bringing interesting developments, considering the strategic role that high speed covers for the crescent moon country.
The official inauguration of the new line is planned for the 23 April, a national holiday in Turkey, in the presence of important personalities of the Turkish and Italian governments.
The Ankara-Instanbul high-speed is the biggest railway project ever realized in Turkey. Turkish Railways, moreover, operates a country network wide about 11,000km. The profile of a modern ETR 500 running on those lines will undoubtedly be a reason of great satisfaction and proudness, especially considering the importance of the work. A complex technical-logistic plan was set up in order to let the train reach its final destination. The high-speed testing train left Italy on 12 April and reached Instanbul on Monday, 16 April after having crossed Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Bulgaria. The last step will be the crossing, by ferryboat, of the Bosphorus strait in order to take again the trip towards Ankara.
For more information on this company:
Mer Mec - Rail, Track, Wheel, Overhead Line and Ride Quality Measuring Systems and Vehicles for Condition Monitoring of Conventional and High-Speed Railways
Copyright 2007 SPG Media Limited a subsidiary of SPG Media Group PLC
