A third tunnel connecting the European and Asian parts of Istanbul, officially named the “Great Istanbul Tunnel” by the government, will be put into operation in 2028, announced by the Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoglu.
“Studies and design are currently being done. This will be the first three-story tunnel in the world. Two floors will be car lanes, and the third will be a high-speed railway line. We anticipate that the tunnel will be opened in 2028. It will have the capacity to serve 1.3 million passengers on a daily basis,” the minister noted, stressing that the project will be one of the symbols of the “Century of Turkey” vision presented by the government last October .
The minister emphasized the importance of the project, pointing out that after the construction of the Marmaray Railway Tunnel and the Eurasia Motorway, the “Great Tunnel in Istanbul” will be the third passage under the Bosphorus, which will greatly ease traffic in the city of 16 million. It will be integrated with the leading road, metro and railway arteries of the metropolis.
Minister Karaismailoglu said that according to Istanbul’s basic transport plan, the number of crossings between the European and Asian countries currently exceeds the figure of 2 million on a daily basis. In the near future, this figure is expected to increase to 3 million per day.
“We are now developing plans to prevent future problems arising from increased traffic,” he stressed.
The new tunnel will be part of a high-capacity railway system that will connect the Asian and European parts of Istanbul, the minister said. He notes that the route across the Bosphorus will stretch from the Kadıköy district on the Asian side to the Bakırköy district in the European part of the metropolis.
The “Great Istanbul Tunnel” will have a total length of 28 kilometers and will consist of 13 stations. This ambitious infrastructure project will serve a total of 1.3 million passengers per day when it is put into operation in 2028, it will have the capacity to serve 70,000 passengers per hour in one direction,” Karaismailoglu explained.
The total travel time on the new route will be 42 minutes.
The tunnel will be integrated with 11 other railway lines and will also allow the Metrobus line, which is considered the backbone of Istanbul’s transport system, to operate at optimal capacity.
Photo: AA
