Technical problem delays Turkey train on first trip

A hostess looks out of the window of the Turkish new high-speed train carriage, which is decorated with a picture of the historical Haydarpasa rail terminal, yesterday in Istanbul. Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan inaugurated the first high-speed train link between Ankara and Istanbul yesterday, his latest ambitious grand engineering project, but arrived late after a technical problem on the maiden trip.

AFP/Istanbul

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurated yesterday the first high-speed train link between Ankara and Istanbul in his latest ambitious grand engineering project, but arrived late after a technical problem on the maiden trip.

Erdogan boasted that the new high speed train link was a symbol of a new Turkey but promptly himself suffered an all-too-familiar commuter experience when the train made an unscheduled halt for half an hour.

The new line between Turkey’s two biggest cities, which should slash journey times by around a half to 3.5 hours, has already been hit by repeatedly delayed opening dates and accidents.

The line does not yet terminate in the centre of Istanbul, but on the Asian side of the Bosphorus in the suburb of Pendik, which can take up to two hours to access from the heart of the city.

But the premier, who is standing in presidential elections on August 10, turned the opening of the line into another leg of his campaign, making speeches at stops along the way.

“We are a country which dreams and which makes its dreams come true,” Erdogan told crowds in Eskisehir, the half-way stop on the way to Istanbul. “Despite all the attempts of sabotage, blockade, and slowdown, we completed the line and opened it for service today.”

Erdogan, whose Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) has dominated politics for over a decade, has made bringing Turkey’s infrastructure to European standards his number-one priority.

The High Speed Train (Yuksek Hizli Tren, YHT), carrying television reporters and a high-level delegation, made stately progress towards Istanbul until it came to an abrupt halt in the satellite city of Izmit.

Reports said that a problem with an overhead cable had cut electricity to the train, with officials refusing to rule out the possibility of sabotage.

“It may not be sabotage but there are questions marks in my mind. These are technical issues. Our colleagues will investigate,” Transport Minister Lutfi Elvan said, quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper’s website.

Television pictures showed engineers frantically scrambling to fix the problem and the train finally rolled on after suffering a half-hour delay.

When he spoke to supporters in Pendik after arriving, Erdogan in typically bombastic style made no reference to the mishap.

“Turkey has been longing for a railway for 70 years. High speed rail was not even a dream before we came to power,” he said.

In a typical gesture, Erdogan announced the train would be free of charge for its first week of service. Then the price would be a relatively modest 70 Turkish lira ($33.5) for a one-way journey.

The project is shadowed by safety concerns as train accidents are frequent on Turkey’s network and in 2004 dozens of people were killed when a newly inaugurated high-speed train derailed in the northwest.

But Erdogan scoffed at the safety concerns. “We will see that those who make such claims utilise these services. Of course they will do.”

Erdogan had last year opened the Marmaray tunnel, which for the first time connects Istanbul’s two sides with a metro link deep beneath the Bosphorus.

He said the government wanted the Ankara-Istanbul train to continue through the Bosphorus tunnel and bring travellers into the heart of Istanbul.

He is also a driving force behind plans for a third bridge over the Bosphorus and a huge new third airport for Istanbul.

While the government is touting the railway as a major domestic achievement, the high speed trains themselves have been purchased from Spanish trainmaker CAF while European firms have been involved in the track infrastructure.

The $4.25bn project has also been helped by some $1.5bn in EU grants and loans.

Turkey started building its railways in the mid-19th century during the Ottoman Empire, when world powers like Britain, France and Germany were given concessions to build stretches of track.

Development of the railways was also taken up by modern Turkey’s founder Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, but the system fell into neglect in tough economic times from the 1960s when hardly any new track was built.

The government hopes the Ankara-Istanbul link will help revolutionise travelling habits in Turkey, where most people get around by bus or plane.

With Turkey now starting its main Bayram holidays, some 3,000 buses were due to leave Istanbul’s main bus station yesterday alone to take people around the country.