The World Bank has approved a $2 billion (€1.7 billion) loan to Türkiye for a new railway line across the Bosporus, the country’s Finance Ministry confirmed on Wednesday.
If completed, the new line will become Türkiye’s largest foreign-financed railway project.
The loan forms part of a wider $6.75 billion (€5.2 billion) financing package backed by several global lenders, including the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the OPEC Fund for International Development.
“The approval of this $2 billion loan marks a coordinated effort by six multilateral development banks to provide $6.75 billion in financing for the Istanbul North Rail Crossing Project,” the World Bank said in a statement this week.
According to previous statements by Türkiye’s Transport Ministry, the Istanbul North Rail Crossing Project (INRAIL) will run through northern Istanbul, near the Black Sea entrance of the Bosporus.
It will include 125 kilometres of high-capacity, electrified railway, as well as 44 tunnels and 42 bridges, officials said.
The INRAIL project aims to connect Gebze, Sabiha Gökçen Airport, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Istanbul Airport and Halkalı, creating a continuous transport corridor across northern Istanbul.
By using the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, the new line will bypass the city centre, easing a long-standing bottleneck and enabling uninterrupted rail traffic between Europe and Asia.
According to the World Bank, INRAIL is expected to increase cross-Bosporus rail freight capacity from 3 million to 50 million tonnes annually, improving travel times, reliability and predictability for freight operators.
The project will also “increase freight and passenger rail capacity … and improve the reliability of critical national and intercontinental transport corridors, including the Trans-Caspian, Türkiye-EU, and Iraq Development Road corridors,” the Bank added.
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according t...
Indian police detained more than 2,000 protesters in Delhi on Saturday as authorities blocked a planned demonstration calling for the resignation o...
At least 12 people, including three children, have been killed in a Russian attack on the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, a day after U.S. Presiden...
Leaders of countries from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) have agreed to hold coordinated population censuses around 2030. They took the decision at the CIS Council of Heads of State meeting in Awaza, Turkmenistan on Friday, media reported.
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The airport remains closed until further notice.
South African judge Navanethem “Navi” Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday “for her efforts to promote peace and international law,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.
The U.S. has imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday (9 October) escalating tensions with European allies and potentially targeting companies that provide services to the tribunal. The move came hours after former ICC judge Navi Pillay won the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ukrainian drone strikes have hit two Yandex data centres in Russia on consecutive days, disrupting digital services as Kyiv intensifies attacks on Russia's digital infrastructure.
The explosion at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh on Saturday afternoon killed at least 12 people and injured a further 309, according to Saudi Arabia’s Civil Aviation Authority. The airport remains closed until further notice.
Turkic states are assessing the feasibility of passport-free travel between countries using national ID cards, Kürşad Zorlu, the Deputy Chairman of Türkiye’s ruling AK Party said on Saturday.
European Union measures suspending import duties on 80 per cent of Armenian exports to the bloc came into effect on Saturday. The temporary liberalisation measures are aimed at supporting Armenian producers and exporters following trade restrictions imposed on the country's products by Russia.
Georgia is enjoying one of its biggest and highest-quality grape harvests since independence. By 6 October, growers in the country's main wine-producing region, Kakheti, had delivered 182,210 tonnes of grapes, with 99 per cent rated medium or high quality, despite recent protests over prices.
Uzbekistan has unveiled plans to deepen economic ties with Central Asia and Azerbaijan, proposing shared artificial intelligence infrastructure, a critical minerals alliance and a regional trade strategy extending to 2035.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment