Turkey will open the 153-km Çerkezköy-Kapıkule railway section, which reaches the border with Bulgaria. The ceremony will be held at the Babaeski railway station in the Kırklareli district, with the participation of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and EU Commissioner for Enlargement Marta Kos.
The section is part of the Halkali-Kapıkule high-speed line, connecting Istanbul with Edirne and the Kapıkule border crossing. Construction began in 2019 and is being jointly financed by Turkey and the European Union.
“The travel time for passenger trains will be reduced from 4 hours to 1.5 hours, and for freight trains from 8.5 hours to 3.5 hours”, said Turkish Minister of Transport and Communications Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, presenting the project parameters.
The line will also serve freight
The Halkali-Kapıkule railway line is 229 km long and has two tracks. It is designed for an operating speed of up to 200 km per hour and will serve both passenger and freight trains.
Eight stations are planned along the route – Halkali, Ispartakule, Cerkezköy, Buyukkaraştan, Luleburgaz, Babaeski, Edirne Center and Kapıkule. With the introduction of the Cerkezköy-Kapıkule section, Turkey's high-speed rail network will reach the European border.
The European Commission defines the project as the first implemented result of the European Union's regional connectivity program, which connects Central Asia with Europe via the South Caucasus.
New train station also opened in Edirne
The new central train station, located closest to the Bulgarian border, will also be opened in Edirne. The building was built on the site of the old station, which was completely destroyed. The construction lasted eight months.
The new railway complex has 9,840 sq m of platform space, 8,700 sq m of green space and three platforms. The station is planned to serve long-distance passenger trains and become one of the main transport hubs of Edirne after the full commissioning of the Halkali-Kapıkule line.
According to data from the investment program of the Turkish presidency, the value of the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule section alone is 58.2 billion Turkish liras. Together with the Halkali-Cerkezköy section, the total value of the project reaches 113.5 billion Turkish liras.
Sources: bta.bg, aa.com.tr