INRAIL Project Secures $750 Million in Financing

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, or AIIB, said an agreement had been signed for the first installment of a $1.5 billion financing package for the Istanbul Northern Rail Crossing Project, known as INRAIL. The financing will be provided in two equal tranches.

The bank said the project was expected to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 16 million metric tons of carbon-dioxide equivalent over its operating life. The financing would therefore contribute to efforts to mitigate climate change while also providing additional climate-adaptation benefits by improving the resilience of the infrastructure, the bank said. The project is intended to support Türkiye’s transition to a lower-carbon and more resilient transportation system.

Once completed, the project will complement the existing Marmaray corridor, creating an approximately 127-kilometer, or 79-mile, double-track, electrified and fully signaled railway linking Çayırova on Istanbul’s Asian side with Çatalca on the European side.

The line will carry passenger trains traveling at speeds of up to 160 kilometers an hour, or about 100 miles an hour, as well as freight trains operating at speeds of 80 to 120 kilometers an hour.

By separating freight and passenger services, the project is expected to reduce rail-freight travel time between Çayırova and Çatalca to 3.6 hours, from about 13 hours. Passenger travel time between Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen International Airport is expected to fall to 65 minutes, from about 120 minutes.

The project has an estimated total cost of about $8.27 billion. In addition to the AIIB, its financiers include the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the OPEC Fund for International Development.