Turkish railway, with Chinese upgrades, could bypass Russia on route to Europe

On the list of improvements is electrification, new domestic routes, a bridge in the continental connector city of Istanbul and a high-speed line from Istanbul to the national capital of Ankara, said A. Burak Daglioglu, president of the governmental promotion office Invest in Turkiye.

Chinese equipment maker CRRC Zhuzhou Electric Locomotive already has a factory in Turkey, Daglioglu told the Post on Monday, with the company debuting what it called the country’s “fastest metro train” on Istanbul’s transit system last year. Other contractors are expected to submit bids in an open tender process due to begin soon.

“They are interested in the projects,” Daglioglu said on the sidelines of the Asian Financial Forum in Hong Kong. “As long as they are offering a competitive bid on the tender, they are welcome to join. There is huge potential for railway investments.”

China is hoping the Turkish railway network can help ship cargo to and from Europe, said Jayant Menon, a senior fellow at the ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, adding the nearly 3-year-old Russia-Ukraine conflict deters European shippers from using more direct routes that run through or near the two warring countries.

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‘Infrastructure monster’: how China built the world’s longest high-speed railway

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