Turkey: The plans of the TCDD national railway operator to procure rolling stock from the state-owned Türasaş were announced during the General assembly of the country’s parliament.
TCDD CEO Hasan Pezük said the company’s investment program implies the purchase of 64 E5000 series mainline electric locomotives by 2026. In turn, Türasaş CEO Mustafa Metin Yazar added that the prototype production with a 60% localization level will be completed in 2022, and delivery of 20 locomotives is scheduled by the end of 2024. The first national electric locomotive of the E5000 series must comply with European TSI requirements. The power of the locomotive should be 5 MW, operating speed – 140 km/h.
Pezük also revealed the details of the national project of an electric train development, which has been implemented by TCDD since 2018 together with Türasaş and the Turkish Ministry of Transport. He noted that the operator expects to receive 20 trains with an operating speed of 160 km/h and 36 trains with an operating speed of 225 km/h in 2022-2027. Earlier, the following delivery plans were mentioned in the Turkish media: 4 trains in 2022, 15 trains in 2023 and 56 trains in 2024-2025.
Currently, TCDD has two EMUs in its fleet for a speed of 160 km/h, the operator expects the delivery of the third train before the end of the year. The five-car train can accommodate 324 people and is designed for intercity transportation. It is claimed that the rolling stock complies with the European TSI requirements and can be delivered to the EU countries. After launching into serial production, the level of EMU localization in Turkey should be 75%. At the end of last year, during the General Assembly of the Turkish parliament, Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Adil Karaismailoglu also said that the train had passed all the necessary tests.
The first EMU by Türasaş during trials. Source: yenisafak.com
At the same time, work is underway to develop a train capable of accelerating up to 225 km/h. In fact, it will be the same rolling stock, but with some structural changes and an upgraded engine. It was previously stated that the prototype assembly should be completed in 2023. Mustafa Metin Yazar said that Türasaş plans to deliver 8 such trains by 2025 and 28 trains by 2027.
According to Pezük, TCDD’s current fleet includes 659 locomotives, 31 high-speed trains, 99 diesel trains and 88 electric trains, 757 passenger cars and about 17,000 freight cars. The country pays major attention to the development of railway transport, planning significant investments in this sector. Demand for rail travel is also on the rise, with TCDD predicting 193 mln annual passenger traffic in 2022, up from 164.5 mln in 2019.
