Kağıthane - Istanbul Airport Metro Line to be Open on April 2021
At the beginning of October, the Transportation Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu was on site of the new metro line's construction for quality assessments. He mentioned that they plan to open the metro line by April 2021. According to the statements he gave to the press, the Transportation Ministry is also planning on opening the Gayrettepe Metro line that will connect the three points by sometime in late 2021.
The finished metro lines in Istanbul reach 223 km, while the completed ones in recent years make up for 80 km of it. Metro lines under construction in Istanbul reach 91 km, including the new Gayrettepe - Kağıthane - Istanbul Airport. The ministry notes that another metro line, Istanbul Airport - Halkalı is to be opened in 2022.
"We continue to work with a team of 4.5 thousand on full speed." the Minister said. "The new Gayrettepe - Istanbul Airport - Kağıthane metro line will both connect the airport to the city center, and decrease the travel time to 30 minutes. The 9 news stations on the metro line have been completed by %75. We continue to manufacture the under rail material fillings such as cement and precast panels, and continue with rail placements as well as other structural constructions."
According to the transportation minister Karaismailoğlu, this metro project is a project of records. "We want to finish the metro line as quickly and safely as possible. We are working on 10 different excavation machines at the same time as a first in Turkey. This metro project has been recorded as the fastest dug metro project of all Turkey. We will be using the fastest metro rides that will reach 120 km/h between Gayrettepe - Airport, rather than the 80km/h that is normal in Turkey. We have done the fastest and driverless rides before. Today, we have completed the manufacturing of the 2nd set of trains and will begin turning on them. Later in October, we will begin performance tests with the trains. In November and December, we are expecting 4 new trains, which will increase the number of train sets to 10. We are planning on testing them at the same speed. Just like the materials on the construction of the metro line, we use Turkish manufactured goods with our Train sets. There are 136 individual compartments and vehicles on this metro project that uses a minimum of %60 local goods in their manufacturing process. We are also planning on using signalization systems that are locally designed on these rails."
The Transportation Minister has also touched on the Covid-19 restrictions during the construction on his closing remarks. "I wish to remind all that we have taken every precaution against Covid-19 during our construction. Once the Gayrettepe - Istanbul Airport metro line is complete and operational, we hope to carry at least 600 thousand people between downtown and the airport in 30 minutes. The metro line will pass through various districts of Istanbul such as Beşiktaş, Şişli, Kağıthane, Eyüp, and Arnavutköy, which we hope to relieve the highway traffic. The new metro line will offer transfer between other railway projects such as the Highspeed Train line."
A Satellite Launch is Expected on November 30th
The Minister Karaismailoğlu has also mentioned that they are planning various projects on the matter of space. "We received our latest Türksat 5 satellite yesterday. We hope to be last-minute tweaks on the satellite and launch it to space on November 30th. We wish to remind our space presence to the whole world." Karaismailoğlu stated. "We are on constant work to expand economically, socially, and scientifically, and will continue to work on becoming pioneers. We have revolutionized our presence through crown projects in the last 18 years."
