Recently, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye officially released the bidding announcement for the four major general contracting sections of the northern cross sea railway channel in Istanbul. This double track electrified railway, with a total investment of approximately 8.27 billion US dollars and a total length of 127 kilometers, starts from Gebuzhe on the Asian side, crosses the Bosphorus Strait to the west, and ends at Ç atarja on the European side, connecting the two major international airports. After completion, the project will significantly release the freight capacity of the Eurasian Continental Bridge and become a key hub in the eastern section of the pan European railway network.

The four major sections cover tunnel, bridge, and strait engineering

The project is divided into four design and construction general contracting sections: Section 1 is the Asian side roadbed and tunnel group from Gebuze to Kurtdo ğ mu ş, with a length of 28.49 kilometers; Section 2 is the airport connection area from Kurtdo ğ mu ş to Alibahad ı r, with a length of 25.76 kilometers; Section 3 is the core strait passage from Alibahad ı r to Mithatpa ş a via a cross sea bridge, with a length of 32.15 kilometers; Section 4 is the European side project from Mithatpa ş a via the new airport to Ç atarja, with a length of 39.49 kilometers. The unified construction period is 5 years of construction plus 2 years of defect liability period.

Multilateral financing of 6.75 billion US dollars, transparent procurement rules

The total investment of the project is 8.27 billion US dollars, of which 6.75 billion US dollars is jointly provided by the World Bank, the Asian Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other multilateral development banks with sovereign loans, and the rest is self raised by the Türkiye government. The bidding strictly follows the international procurement rules of multilateral banks, is open to qualified contractors worldwide, has strong financial security, and transparent rules. In the future, we will independently contract supporting packages such as signal, electrification, supervision, and project management consulting. Keywords: the Belt and Road news network, cross sea railway, infrastructure

Chinese enterprises face dual opportunities in design, construction, and supply chain

Outside the civil engineering section of the project, equipment manufacturers, electrification, and component supply chain enterprises can proactively connect with candidate general contracting units and follow up on subsequent subcontracting opportunities. Relying on the unique regional advantages of Asia and Europe, Türkiye is vigorously promoting the upgrading of its railway network. This project is an important window for Chinese enterprises to deeply cultivate the cross-border rail transit market in Türkiye and Asia and Europe. Prospective enterprises need to start early research and cooperation negotiations as soon as possible.Editor/Gao Xue