Turkey has taken delivery of the last high-speed train manufactured by Siemens for Turkish State Railways (TCDD) in the capital city of Ankara.
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu informed Anadolu Agency (AA) that 12 trains were manufactured in Germany under a contract signed with Siemens in 2018.
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The first train was delivered in November 2019.
These trains will run on 1,213km of high-speed train lines, as well as on the new lines that will be constructed and commissioned in the future.
With this latest delivery, TCDD’s fleet for the high-speed trains now stands at 31.
Few parts of the train were produced domestically in Turkey and as many as five Turkish firms participated in the manufacturing process in Germany.
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By GlobalDataKaraismailoğlu was quoted by AA as saying: “When we start operating the 12 high-speed trains, we will increase the number of trains on our current lines. We will organise express services with an increase in the number of trains. The time on the Ankara-Istanbul and Konya-Istanbul services will be reduced by 30 minutes. In addition, the number of daily passengers will reach 30,000 at first and then 40,000.”
During the pandemic, around 20 high-speed train trips were made on weekdays and 12 on weekends for maintaining social distancing.
The new train will contain eight wagons and be able to operate at a speed of 300km/h.
The 483-passenger train will feature three business lounges with a total capacity of 12 passengers.
With a two-plus-one seating arrangement, the business section will have a total capacity of 45 passengers whereas the train’s restaurant will have a capacity of 32 passengers.
Designed to be ‘disabled-friendly’, the delivered train features two wheelchair docks, informational writing in the Braille alphabet, and a ramp and lift for boarding.
In the pre-pandemic period, around 23,000 passengers were served on the Ankara-Istanbul, Ankara-Eskişehir, Ankara-Konya and Konya-Eskişehir-Istanbul lines with 48 daily trips in the summer period and 44 daily trips in the winter period.
