By Lynda Myer
With attendance of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, opening process of the Kağıthane-Istanbul Airport metro line is due to be done on Sunday, January 22, 2023. Referring to that the metro line has the capacity to serve 800 thousand passengers per day, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoğlu stated: “We are proud and happy to make our country live the ‘best’s and firsts once again with one of our works. There are 9 stations on our Beşiktaş (Gayrettepe)-Kağıthane-Eyüp (Göktürk)-Istanbul Airport metro line. Our metro line; It will pass through Kağıthane, Eyüpsultan and Arnavutköy districts and has a capacity to serve 8 thousand passengers daily with 800 stations. Thanks to the integration of our Metro line, Mecidiyeköy-Mahmutbey Metro Line, it will be possible to reach Istanbul Airport, the world’s largest and number one airport and the most important global transfer center in the region, directly, safely, quickly and economically with the entire rail system.”
Following inauguration of this line to Istanbul Airport, it can be reached in 24 minutes from Kağıthane and 12 minutes from Göktürk.
“This is how easy and comfortable it is to reach our country’s door to the world. We carry the satisfaction and pride of bringing the best’s and firsts to our country once again with one of our works. We are talking about the longest metro in Turkey, which was tendered and built in one go. In order for our line to be put into service as soon as possible, we used 10 tunnel boring machines simultaneously in a metro project for the first time in Turkey. CPC advances; We broke the excavation records with 65,5 meters per day, 306 meters per week and 1233 meters per month. Turkey’s fastest metro vehicles with a speed of 120 kilometers per hour will also work on this line. Gayrettepe Station, which is the deepest metro station in Turkey with 72 meters, was also built within the scope of this project. For the first time in Turkish metro lines, we built a perfect railway infrastructure with precast panels here. In this way, we will offer our passengers the opportunity to drive in the comfort of high-speed trains. We are implementing the smart tunnel concept for the first time in the world’s subways in this project. Thus, we brought a new technology to tunnel fire safety. With the support of our Ministry and cooperation with Aselsan, for the first time, the signaling system, developed with domestic and national facilities, will be used in this metro line,” added Karaismailoğlu.
While currently this line was integrated with the Mahmutbey metro and Kağıthane in the first stage, according to Minister of Transport Karaismailoğlu, they are going to integrate this line with the metrobus and Hacıosman-Yenikapı Metro Zincirlikuyu Stations in the spring, and they are slated to complete a further 3,5 kilometers and raise the line to 37,5 kilometers.
Karaismailoğlu asserted: “We have been blessed to once again bring a comfortable, fast and safe transportation service to our country and Istanbul. However; The benefits of this service are as diverse as our other works. These benefits will be more clearly understood when we look at the projection for the years 2023-2043 with the introduction of the Metro Line. In the 20-year projection; The total economic gain of our country will be 45 billion 247 million Euro, including 30 million Euro highway operation and maintenance gain, 2 million Euro environmental gain, 316 million Euro accident and injury gain, 2 billion 639 million Euro time savings.”
