$6.75bn financing lined up for Istanbul’s north belt rail link connecting the two airports via YSS Bridge

By Bosphorus News Staff

Türkiye’s Transport and Infrastructure Ministry says it has reached a preliminary understanding with six international financial institutions for $6.75 billion in external financing for the North Circumferential Railway Project, a proposed corridor designed to strengthen Istanbul’s airport access and boost rail logistics between Asia and Europe.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the financing track involves the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the OPEC Fund for International Development, and the EBRD. He described the project as the country’s largest externally financed railway investment and said tender preparations are ongoing, with the goal of completing the tender process and handing over the site within 2026.

The planned route would run Gebze, Sabiha Gokcen Airport, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, Istanbul Airport, and Halkali, starting from the Marmaray corridor near Cayirova and integrating at Catalca with the Halkali–Cerkezkoy line currently under construction. The ministry says the link would also ease passenger and freight pressure on Marmaray by shifting part of the load onto the northern belt.

Uraloglu said the line is planned at 125 km, including 44 tunnels totaling 59.1 km and 42 bridges totaling 22.4 km. The ministry’s projections put annual capacity at 33 million passengers and 30 million tons of cargo once the corridor is completed.

The financing announcement comes as the ministry also highlights complementary northern access upgrades around Istanbul, including the Sariyer–Kilyos Tunnel project, which officials say is intended to shorten travel times on the northern axis and improve connections to the wider road network.