Marmaray is a 76.6km-long intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. It comprises a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus strait and the modernization of existing suburban railway lines along the Sea of Marmara. The first phase of the project opened on October 29, 2013. The full line opened on March 12, 2019. It is the first standard gauge rail connection between Europe and Asia.
About Marmaray in brief
Marmaray is a 76.6km-long intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. It comprises a rail tunnel under the Bosphorus strait and the modernization of existing suburban railway lines along the Sea of Marmara. Construction started in 2004, with an initial target opening date of April 2009. The first phase of the project opened on October 29, 2013. The second phase was scheduled to open in 2015, but work was stopped in 2014. Work was restarted in February 2017 and the full line opened on March 12, 2019. It is the first standard gauge rail connection between Europe and Asia. Marmaray is the fourth underground system in Istanbul after the Tünel Funicular, Metro and Kabataş–Taksim funicular and highly integrated with Metro lines. It represents the world’s deepest undersea immersed tube tunnel. Fire-resistant concrete developed in Norway was crucial for the safety of theproject. The capacity of the line is planned to be 75,000 passengers per hour in each direction. A third line will be added which will provide the electric multiple unit cars and other rail cars the ability to move separately.
Thirty-seven other above-ground stations will be rebuilt or refurbished. Completion of the entire project had been expected to occur in 2013 but as of May 2015, no progress had been made on replacing the old suburban lines. After completion, the use of rail transportation in Istanbul is predicted to rise from 3% to 7%. It is also planned that during off-peak hours, regional trains will also pass through the tunnel in order to reach the European side of the city. In February 2010, International Railway’s administrators were not hiring consultants to analyse options for carrying freight traffic. The tunnel was completed on September 23, 2008, with a formal ceremony to mark completion of the tunnel on October 13. New underground stations have been built at Yenikapı, Sirkeci, and Üsküdar. Commuter trains now go from Ayrılık Çeşmesi station to Kazlıçeşme station, stopping at three underground stations along the way. The line from Halkalı to Gebze was inaugurated on March12, 2019 by President Erdoğan.
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This page is based on the article Marmaray published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
