The Railroad Must Return Again And Quickly

Railroad Borrowing from England:

Çanakkale Bridge opens today. The material meaning of this for my country is undeniable, but the spiritual meaning is greater for me. Because today is March 18. The day that turned Çanakkale into a real castle. However, I will write two articles. Both are about the train track.

The English editions of the foreign and Turkish press had similar headlines: "Britain agrees record $2.3 bln export finance deal to fund Turkish railway[1] .

Financing is reserved for the Ankara-İzmir high-speed train line of 508 km, half of which has been completed. Another source states this[2]: “The UK has agreed on Thursday the largest ever civil infrastructure export financing agreement to undertake a high-speed rail link between Turkey's capital Ankara and a major port in the west in Izmir. ” This news makes it necessary to look back at an area that has been sacrificed to ideologies such as the railway.

Concrete Result of the Industrial Revolution: Railways

The embodiment of the industrial revolution is the railways besides steamboats and it was used all over the world, firstly in England, then in the USA and Continental Europe, almost two centuries ago (1825 Scotland, 1830 Liverpool-Manchester line[3]). “Mass loads produced by the industrial revolution could reach very far places by railway, societies were developing not only in economic terms, but also in social and cultural areas, and even in war, the railway became one of the most important elements of gaining superiority[4]”

Architects of Railway Policy in Anatolia and Rumelia:

In Turkey, there are two statesmen whose policy is the railway and who are positioned face to face many times unnecessarily: M. Kemal Atatürk, the first president of modern Turkey, and the last sultan of the Great State Ottoman, II. Abdulhamid. Both have built magnificent rail networks despite scarce resources. His words, as well as his actions, support this situation.

Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk), (at the meeting of the National Assembly on March 1, 1922) [5] [6] The activity and vitality of economic life (economic life) but the state of transportation (transportation, transshipment) vehicles, roads, trains (trains) and ports and it is in accordance with its degree”,

Sultan Sultan II. In his memoirs, Abdülhamid[7] said, “I accelerated the construction of the Anatolian Railways with all my strength. The purpose of this road is to connect Mesopotamia and Baghdad to Anatolia and reach the Persian Gulf. Thanks to German assistance, this was achieved. The grain that used to rot in the fields now finds good cultivation. Our mines are supplied to the world market. A good future has been prepared for Anatolia. The rivalry between the great powers in the construction of railways within our empire is very strange and suspicious. Although the great states do not want to admit it, the importance of these railways is not only economic but also political.” was saying.

Many people also see the railway as a visual and historical memory. “The railway, with its evocative aspect of the past, is almost like a bridge built to the past. Apart from the fact that a significant part of our existing railways are from the Ottoman period, many lines that were built in that period are not even within our borders today. Despite this, the railway continues to be an emotional bridge between us and those regions. In this respect, the railway is as if it is Hejaz, Baghdad, Yemen, Skopje, Bosnia, Thessaloniki, Plovdiv.[8]”

Cost Effectiveness And Comfort

For years, the railroads, which rose rapidly due to their service to the first capitalist ambitions, were perceived as an undesirable means of transportation, especially due to the enthusiasm of wild capitalism to sell oil in other countries, due to the insanity of clumsiness and to some extent shabby.

This vehicle was described as primitive and was seen as the infrastructure of communist ideology. He was excluded. It has been stigmatized as a reactionary approach. This vehicle was seen as an old man, who was expected to die quickly due to the heavy burdens he suffered, especially in other societies. But suddenly, there was hope for the polluted world. Because globalization was showing its effect in every field. “Today, the importance of the railway, which is an environmentally friendly and economical mode of transportation, has increased many times over. So much so that the 21st century is called the "New Railway Age". Because, railway, safety, energy consumption, contribution to the environment, land use, construction and external costs, useful life, etc. more advantageous in terms of E.g; While the kilometer cost of the highway is approximately 12 million dollars, the cost of the double-track, electrified and signaled railway is only 4 million dollars, its useful life is 30 years” [9]

Moreover, the time savings, cost effectiveness and reliability provided by high-speed trains, as well as the high comfort it provides, necessitated the re-evaluation of the railway.

Turkey's Railway Inventory And origins

Our railway adventure, which started in 1851, when the Egyptian Governor Abbas Pasha gave the British the privilege of constructing a railway between Alexandria and Cairo,[10] meant a delay of 21 years compared to Western Europe and the United States. The railway network, which increased to 23,000 kilometers in these countries in a very short time, has approached 1.5 million kilometers today[11].

MAP I. 2 updates needed here:

1- Pre-Republican Railway Network: 4.559 km is seen in some sources.

2- Railway Network since 2003: 386 km Main Line and 1.213 km high speed train line, a total of 1.599 km Main Line has been built. (Average 95 km per year)

The total length of the railways that came into service during the Ottoman period (from 211 km with the Suez Canal) is 8,974 kilometers with the Cairo-Alexandria-Suez line, which increased to 355 km. 4,559 kilometers of these lines remained within the borders of the newly established Republic of Turkey.[12]

According to the latest report, Turkey's railway inventory is expressed as follows[13]: “We have a total of 9,194 km of conventional main lines, including 8,438 km of main line, 756 km of second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth lines throughout the network. With the addition of 2,396 km of secondary lines, 1.963 km of which are station roads and 433 km of junction lines, the total conventional line length reaches 11,590 km. The length of our High Speed Train line is 1,213 km. The total railway length is 12,803 km, together with the Conventional and High Speed Train lines. Here, too, a total of 1,213 km is mentioned, including 594 km for the Main Lines, 590 km for the 2nd Main Line and 29 km for the Station Roads[14]

High Speed Train Lines Leading the Change:

Maybe if the train named Yakup Kadri Karaosmanoğlu, which made the accelerated train service between Ankara and Istanbul on July 22, 2004, within the borders of Pamukova district of Sakarya, derailed due to excessive speed and 41 passengers had not lost their lives[15], our high-speed train date would have been delayed and it would not have been criticized other than not reaching the targets. “Undoubtedly, the High Speed Trains, which were put into service between Ankara-Eskişehir on 13 March 2009 and between Ankara-Konya on 24 August 2011 and are among the prestige projects of our country, became the name of a revolution in terms of passenger transportation and train management in Turkey.[16] ”

MAP II. Two main lines can be mentioned here[17]:

1- Finished YHT Line: Istanbul-Karaman

2- Ongoing YHT Line: İzmir-Sivas

Two main lines can be mentioned here: the ending Istanbul-Karaman Line and the ongoing Izmir-Sivas Line. Because many lines use double rails. In addition, as of 2022, the Sivas-Ankara line was completed and the test drive was started, while half of the Ankara-Izmir Line was completed[18].

As of today, according to TCDD official data, the High Speed Train Lines are as follows. [19]

1- Ankara-Istanbul-Ankara YHT

2- Ankara-Eskişehir-Ankara YHT
3- Ankara-Konya-Ankara YHT
4-Ankara-Karaman-Ankara YHT
5- Istanbul-Konya-Istanbul YHT
6- Istanbul-Karaman-Istanbul YHT

High Speed Train Destinations:

Turkey maintains its stability in terms of not reaching the targets, also in the high-speed train targets. It is not known whether the targets are set high or the performance is not enough, but the scissors always remain wide open:

TCDD General Manager Süleyman Karaman was saying at the end of 2011, "10.500 km of high-speed railway network will be built by 2023.[20]". “Adil Karaismailoğlu: We will reach 3 thousand kilometers on the high-speed train!”[21] “This road will start from Kapıkule in Turkey, pass through Istanbul and reach Ankara. From there, there will be Kayseri and Sivas, one line from Sivas to Malatya and Diyarbakir, and the other line, passing Erzincan and Erzurum, to Kars. A line will be extended from Erzincan to Trabzon on this line. On the other hand, another high-speed rail line starting from Izmir will go to Afyon, from Afyon to Ankara, Istanbul and Antalya. Thus, Istanbul-Antalya will have a vertical high-speed railway. The second line work in the North-South direction will be the extension of the high-speed train going as far as Konya to Antalya Manavgat.[22]" was said. So much so that even by German (2017) and OEC (2014) researchers, Turkey's total area of 25,208 km by 2023. (conventional: 12,293, YH: 12,915 km.) and 2023-2035 additional 6,000 km. It is envisaged to have a total of 31,000 km of railway lines by 2035.[23]

In the last report on the TCDD Official Site, this network length is expressed as 1213 km at the top: “We have increased our line length to 1.213 kilometers.[24]” Only half of this is expressed as the main line. In fact, studies confirm this situation: “According to UIC railways 2017 statistical data, the total length of railway lines in Turkey is 10,207 km. (1.26%)”[25]

HIGH-SPEED TRAIN FOR SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL DEVELOPMENT

Beyond the social and cultural effects of the railway, there is also an economic aspect, which cannot be ignored at all. As a matter of fact, within the scope of recent economic developments, it is seen that the railway has a very important place. [26]

Having borrowed 2.3 billion dollars from the UK, Turkey has had a chance to develop its railways and switch to the YHT concept to a large extent. The economical use of the foreign debt provided for the Ankara-İzmir YHT line, which is half completed, can provide equal opportunities to other regions.

The Founder of the Republic, M. Kemal Atatürk, wrote a prescription a century ago:

“The railways are the roads of prosperity and civilization of the Turkish nation. High developments of economic life in Turkey will only happen by railroads. The happiness and future of the nation will pass through these roads.”[27]

References:

[1] https://www.reuters.com/world/britain-agrees-record-23-bln-export-finance-deal-

fund-turkish-railway-2022-03-17/ (18 Mart 2022)

[2] https://www.dailysabah.com/business/transportation/uk-to-grant-record-23b-to-

fund-turkish-high-speed-railway (18 Mart 2022)

[3] https://rayhaber.com/2020/11/tren-dunyada-ilk-kez-kac-yillinda-nerede-kullanildi/ (18 Mart 2022)

[4] https://www.utikad.org.tr/Detay/Sektor-Haberleri/10478/dunden-bugune-turkiye- (18 Mart 2022)

[5] http://www.yalcinguran.com/2009/11/turkiyenin-demiryollari-seruveni/ (18 Mart 2022)

[6] https://www.hinisgazetesi.com/yazarlar/servan-oncel/kim-nereye-ne-ormus-

kim-nerede-neyi-ne-kadar-dosemis/4756/ (18 Mart 2022)

[7] http://www.yalcinguran.com/2009/11/turkiyenin-demiryollari-seruveni/ (18 Mart 2022)

[8] https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/686847 (18 Mart 2022)