Turkey has secured international funding of 6.75 billion dollars for a new railway line across the Bosphorus Strait.

Turkey has reached a preliminary agreement with six international creditors, including the World Bank, for financing of 6.75 billion dollars aimed at building a new railway line of 125 kilometers. This line will connect Halkali, in the European part of Istanbul, with Gebze, the industrial area in the Asian part.

The project, which will cross the Bosphorus Strait via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, is considered Turkey's largest externally funded railway project. Once completed, the line will allow the transport of 33 million passengers and 30 million tons of cargo annually, significantly improving the railway capacity between Asia and Europe.

The Minister of Transport, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, mentioned that the bidding process will be completed this year, and construction work will begin soon. Currently, rail transport across the Bosphorus is limited to the Marmaray tunnel, which has transported only 1.7 million tons of cargo between 2020 and 2025.