The 576km-long high-speed railway between the capital city of Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey's the most crowded city will be launched in the second half of May.
The route aims to shorten journey times along with a fast, secure and safe way to travel away from roads. It is mainly a single track, apart from a 198km double section.
Designed to connect with the 13km-long Marmaray Bosphorus Tunnel, the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed train service will reduce journey time between the cities from 6 hours 30 minutes to just 3.5 hours.
There are currently three high-speed rail lines between Ankara, Konya and Eskisehir cities.
Turkey increased its investments in transportation as part of its "2023 Vision" program, which aims to celebrate the country’s 100th anniversary of the establishment of the modern republic by developing major projects, such as building 11 thousand kilometers of new railway and expanding high-speed train networks.
Turkish State Railways had announced on January that it will invest almost half of its 2014 budget (1.8 billion lira) in high-speed train projects.
