WHICH CAN SERVE AS AN INCENTIVE TO EXPAND THE SCALE OF TRANSPORT CONSTRUCTION IN ASIA AND CREATE NEW RAILWAY LINES FROM EUROPE TO INDIA AND THE MIDDLE EAST

No sooner had the excitement of implementing an outstanding engineering project - the construction and commissioning of the Channel Tunnel connecting the UK with the rest of Europe-cooled down, than the world started talking about a new impressive similar project - the construction of a railway tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait, which will connect the Asian and European parts of Istanbul, and in fact-Asia and Europe. In Turkey, it is known as the "Marmaray Project".

The Bosphorus Strait has long been called the eighth wonder of the world, and thousands of tourists from all over the world are eager to visit it. But not only the beauty of the coast and the opportunity to see Europe and Asia at the same time attract them. There are not many places on Earth where you can simultaneously see dozens or even hundreds of ships flying the flags of many countries, and observe their movement in opposite directions. The Bosphorus also plays a great role for the economy of the Danube states, which have access to the Black Sea via the Danube and almost all countries of the world through the Strait.

However, despite all its advantages, the strait also has disadvantages and creates certain problems for people. The main one is that the Bosphorus Strait divides the city of Istanbul into two parts - European and Asian. This creates transport problems and makes life more difficult for those who live in one part of the city and work in another. And since the population of Istanbul has already reached the 10 million mark, the problem of increasing the volume of municipal transport and increasing the speed of transportation has become acute. In addition, as a transport highway, the strait is overloaded to the limit. An average of 135 vessels, 17 of which are oil tankers, pass through it daily in two directions. Despite the fact that the Bosphorus is one of the narrowest and most difficult to navigate straits in the world.

At one time, it seemed that at least a partial solution to the problem had been found: in October 1973, the first suspension bridge across the Strait, designed by the English engineer William Brown, was opened in Ortakoy near Istanbul. Transportation of passengers and some cargo became possible. The bridge was 1,560 m long, making it the fourth longest in the world and the first in Europe. Width-33 m, which provided it with a three-row car traffic in both directions. The height of the bridge from the water level was 65 m, which allows the largest ships to pass under it. Several thousand cars pass through the bridge in both directions every day, and in the first three years of operation, about 30 million cars passed through it.

By 1976, the bridge had fully paid for itself. But the need to expand transport links grew so fast that there was a need for another bridge. And in 1988, it was built, connecting the shores at the narrowest point of the strait. The second bridge was slightly shorter than the first, its length was less than one and a half km.

The two suspension bridges made transportation much easier, but they still remained congested. Every day about 300 thousand cars, trucks and buses pass through them - not less than 200 cars per minute, and during rush hour, many kilometers of traffic jams line up in front of them.

The project "Marmaray" was prepared in the early 90-ies.It was going to be implemented in 2001, but due to the financial crisis, the work was postponed indefinitely. Initially, a tender was announced for the construction of the tunnel, which was won by the largest construction companies - "Yapi Merkezi", "Taisei Corp.", "Gama Endustri", "Kumagai Gumi Corp.", "Nurol Insaat", "Obayashi Corp.", "Penta Oceon"," Yuksel Insaat", which are part of Turkish-Japanese consortium. Financial support in the form of a $ 2 billion loan. The euro was supported by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation and the European Investment Bank.

After all the financial issues were resolved, a solemn ceremony was held at which Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan laid a symbolic stone marking the upcoming start of the tunnel construction. The Prime Minister noted: "This project is not only important for Turkey, it is the project of the century!" The ceremony turned out to be not quite ceremonial - the speakers also talked about how "problematic" the construction of the tunnel is in the geological folding zone, where the mountain-building process has not yet ended and earthquakes are possible. But the country's transport minister, Binali Yildirim, assured that the tunnel would be strong enough to withstand an earthquake measuring 9 on the Richter scale. In the meantime, seismic surveys are continuing in the tunnel area.

Some parameters of the grandiose project have also become known. The length of the railway tunnel will be 13.5 km, part of it will pass under urban areas on both banks, 1.8 km will pass directly under the waters of the Bosphorus Strait at a depth of 60 m (for comparison, the tunnel under the English Channel is laid at a depth of 40 m). These segments will be part of a 70-kilometer railway track and skytrain that will connect the two extreme points of Istanbul in Europe and Asia - Halkali and Gibze. It is planned to lay six railway tracks in the tunnel - this is twice as much as the tunnel under the English Channel. Trains will run in both directions at 90-second intervals. The capacity of the tunnel will be about 150 thousand passengers per hour. Thus, the intensity of communication between the two parts of the Turkish metropolis will increase tenfold - after all, the capacity of the road bridge over the Bosphorus is only 15 thousand people per hour. All works are expected to be completed in 4 years. And if the plans of the tunnel's creators are realized, then by the end of 2008, the multi-million population of Istanbul will be able to forget about such a phenomenon as long-hour traffic jams.

The Turkish Government has high hopes for this project. It hopes that the construction of a tunnel under the Bosphorus will serve as an incentive to expand the scale of transport construction in the country. The tunnel will also become part of the largest railway line that will connect Europe with the Middle East, Central Asia and India.

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