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.
An agreement between Iran and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected "soon," a U.S. official has said. The deal would result in the resum...
A state of emergency was declared in the district of Summerland, British Columbia, early on Saturday as a fast-moving wildfire swept through western C...
Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people, disrupting flights and leaving more than 50,000 buildin...
An agreement between Iran and the U.S. to reopen the Strait of Hormuz is expected "soon," a U.S. official has said. The deal would result in the resumption of commercial shipping through the sea passage and the lifting of an American naval blockade on Iranian ports.
Start your day informed with AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top news stories for the 8th of August, covering the latest developments.
U.S. President Donald Trump said negotiations to reopen the Strait of Hormuz are progressing and suggested an agreement with Iran could be reached “soon”.
U.S. President Donald Trump may have to accept concessions he previously opposed if he wants to secure a deal with Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to analysts, as negotiators move closer to a temporary agreement.
Typhoon Dolphin lashed Japan’s southern Okinawa prefecture on Saturday, injuring six people, disrupting flights and leaving more than 50,000 buildings without power, as China shut ports and suspended transport services ahead of the storm’s expected arrival on its east coast.
Glacier coverage in Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul Basin has shrunk by 33.7 per cent over the past 70–90 years, according to an updated glacier inventory by Kyrgyzhydromet. The agency says the pace of glacier retreat has accelerated sharply in recent years.
Azerbaijan’s President Ilham Aliyev and Armenia’s Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan remarked upon progress made towards normalising relations between Baku and Yerevan in a phone call on the first anniversary of the Washington peace summit.
Tourists may soon be able to view Kazakhstan’s tourist sites by drone. Officials are planning to trial flights of between five and 30 minutes over landmarks in the country, its Ministry of Transport said.
Tashkent has begun work to open the Islam Karimov Memorial Complex to the public as part of plans for a 700-hectare green corridor linking major parks and public spaces across the Uzbek capital.
Kyrgyzstan has introduced mandatory permits for climbers attempting Victory Peak, imposing stricter safety and experience requirements following a series of fatal accidents on one of the world’s most dangerous mountains.
You can download the AnewZ application from Play Store and the App Store.
What is your opinion on this topic?
Leave the first comment