There is an empty space under the steel beams of the third bridge over the Bosphorus Strait. Years later, this vacant spot waited for the railway. The Turks want to move the freight on both sides of Europe and Asia from the crowded road to a new line, and also remove the anxiety that is stuck in the throat.

A line that bypasses the old city

The total length of the Istanbul Northern Railway Cross Sea Passage is about 127 kilometers, consisting of 122.3 kilometers of double track main line and 4.7 kilometers of single track connecting line. The entire line is electrified, with a designed speed of 160 kilometers per hour, mixed passenger and freight transportation, and an annual freight capacity of 50 million tons. It starts from Chairova Station in Kocaeli Province, crosses the strait and ends at Ç atarja Station in Istanbul Province, and also connects to the two busiest airports in terms of passenger flow. The engineering quantity of the four sections is quite hard: 5 double tunnel shield tunnels with a length of 36.2 kilometers, 22 double track New Austrian Tunnels with a length of 23.3 kilometers, 17 open cut tunnels with a length of 3.7 kilometers, and 40 bridges with a total length of 22.1 kilometers.

Competition among 25 bidding documents

The acceptance of bidding documents has been completed. 25 bids have been received for four sections. The bidders are from Türkiye, China and Europe. China Civil Engineering independently participated in the 2nd and 3rd bid sections, and CREEGC and CRTG joined hands with Türkiye Limak to participate in all four bid sections. The second section is the hottest, with 8 companies in the same venue. The project is currently undergoing technical review, and the financial quotation document is not yet open. This line is jointly financed by six multilateral institutions including the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, with a total investment of over 8 billion US dollars. Keywords: Istanbul Cross Sea Railway, Chinese Enterprises Bidding

After the completion of the line, Türkiye's hub position in the middle corridor will be more stable, and the congestion of the existing channels is expected to be alleviated. Some road freight will be transferred to the electrified railway, and the emissions will decrease accordingly. Trains between Europe and Asia will also run more seamlessly.Editor/Min Jing