A giant transportation project, Marmaray tunnel is the strongest structure of Istanbul, Turkey’s Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım says, rejecting the claims that the tunnels are not secure enough in case of a possible earthquake that might hit Turkey’s biggest metropol.
Istanbul’s grand Marmaray tunnel project, which is expected to be opened to use on Oct. 29, the day of Turkey’s Republic Day holiday, has been determined as the “safest structure” in Istanbul in the event of a future earthquake, Transport Minister Binali Yıldırım told a group of journalists on Oct. 23.
Speaking on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s plane returning from Kosovo, Yıldırım referred to a report by the Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute of Boğaziçi University, according to daily Hürriyet columnist Vahap Munyar.
Munyar wrote that the minister sought to respond to criticisms about the safety risks of the Marmaray tunnel, saying the tunnel ran parallel to the seismic fault line in the Marmara Sea, which reduces risks.
Yıldırım reportedly said an earthquake of 9 or 10 on the Richter scale would possibly cause a leakage of water in the tunnel and that preparations were in place for such a “disaster scenario.” Two doors on each side of the tunnel will be automatically closed in a way to avoid water leaking into the tunnel, he added.
He also said the Electrical and Mechanical (E&M) systems of the section that will be opened to use on Oct. 29 were all ready.
Trains are scheduled to leave from Istanbul’s European side district of Kazlıçeşme to reach Söğütlüçeşme on the Anatolian side, emerging from underground at the Ayrılıkçeşme station after 13.5 kilometers.
Two different lines of high speed trains will soon be joined into the Marmaray route, resulting in a 63-kilometer transportation network through the city.
The biggest obstacle to the project’s completion has been the discovery of 40,000 artifacts at Yenikapı. These artifacts were removed with the assistance of the Transportation Ministry and other state authorities, but were then controversially stored in depots due to budget constraints.
hurriyetdailynews.com
26/10/13
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Asia and Europe to get Bosphorus rail link as Marmaray opens tomorrow...
ReplyDeleteThe European and Asian sides of Istanbul are to be connected for the first time with a railway tunnel constructed under the Bosphorus, officially opened tomorrow, the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the Turkish Republic.
A Turkish-Japanese consortium has realized the project, called the Marmaray, fulfilling a 150-year-old dream.
Before a press tour between the European and Asian sides of Istanbul prior to its official opening, Turkish Transportation Minister Binali Yıldırım said it was first suggested by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid and that projects were submitted by French, British and American architects under Abdülhamid II in 1891. But first technological, then financial difficulties prevented the project from coming to fruition until the late 1990s, when the first feasibility studies were started. The work actually started under Erdoğan’s government in 2005.
The Marmaray will provide a non-stop railway route connecting China to Western European markets and vice versa as a modern day Silk Road. As an indication of hopes about the increasing regional trade, Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta and a number of transportation and trade ministers are expected to attend the opening ceremony, to which all top Turkish officials from President Abdullah Gül to Parliamentary Speaker Cemil Çiçek will be present as it is planned to be the event of this year’s Republic Day.
The construction of the world’s deepest submerged underwater railway tunnel (62 meter at its deepest point) was supposed to be completed in 2009. But as engineers started to dig, incredible archaeological findings started to surface, which proved that Istanbul’s history dated back 8,500 years, instead of 6,000 as it was used to be known before the Marmaray. That delayed the project for nearly four years.
Answering criticism about whether or not it was risky to construct such a crossing in a major earthquake zone, Yıldırım said the design would be resistant to more than a 9.0-magnitude quake and would be “the safest place in Istanbul.”
Yıldırım said that with its maximum capacity of 1.5 million passengers a day, the Marmaray was expected to alleviate 20 percent of the 14 million-person city’s traffic burden.
He said another underwater crossing construction, only for cars, was under construction, to be in service by 2015. That is the year when the construction of the third suspension bridge over Bosphorus is also expected to be completed, to increase the total number of connections between the European and Asian sides of the city to five.
The Marmaray tunnel project connecting the Asian and European sides of Istanbul through a railway tunnel connection under the Bosphorus Strait will be inaugurated tomorrow.....http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/asia-and-europe-to-get-bosphorus-rail-link-as-marmaray-opens-tomorrow.aspx?pageID=238&nID=56949&NewsCatID=341
28/10/13