The OPEC Fund for International Development has approved a $250 million loan for a new railway across the Bosphorus, a project designed to remove a major bottleneck on the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor linking Asia and Europe.
The financing for the Istanbul North Rail Crossing is the largest single commitment in the OPEC Fund’s history. It is the first part of an approved financing package of up to $500 million for the project.
The plan calls for a 127-kilometer, double-track electrified railway from Çayırova on Istanbul’s Asian side to Çatalca on the European side. The mixed-use line will carry both passengers and freight and cross the Bosphorus via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge.
Project estimates say the new route could increase annual rail freight capacity between the two sides of Istanbul from about 3 million metric tons to 50 million metric tons. Freight trains currently use the Marmaray tunnel only during limited nighttime hours. The planned line is expected to cut the Çayırova-Çatalca journey from about 13 hours to 3.6 hours.
The railway would also connect Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport to Türkiye’s national rail network. Public transport travel time between the two airports is projected to fall from about two hours to 65 minutes.
The line is part of the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor, which connects Central Asia and China with Europe through the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Türkiye.
The project is estimated to cost $8.3 billion. Its international financing consortium is coordinated by the World Bank and includes the Asian Development Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Islamic Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, European Investment Bank and the Turkish government.
Sources: OPEC Fund; World Bank project document; Report.az.