Transportation sector in Turkey: Future expectations about railway transportation in Turkey

Abstract

During the economic development process, it is observed that services sector has gained importance in many importances. In the services sector, transportation is the sector that the most investment is made and the most added values are created. With various carrying types, transportation sector holds considerable share both in domestic and foreign trade with cargo transportation and in tourism and urban transportation with passenger carrying. As for the transportation sector in Turkey, in the early years of the Republic, short range railway and seaway transportation is observed to be made in the Western Anatolia. Upon the establishment of the Republic, much importance was put on railway transportation and the railway systems which would provide east-west and north-south connection were built. In early years of the 1950s, importance was started to be given in highway construction, and considerable improvement was achieved in seaport and airport construction. Overland transportation, after the years of 1950s, has been the most widely used transportation type that exhibited development due to the high cost of the substructure investments in terms of railway transportation. In recent years, Turkey has been experiencing important developments related with railway transportation. Due to playing great role of railway transportation in Turkeys effectiveness in carrying international cargo, being on an important location in the international corridor, increasing the public investments and allowances for the railway transportation, works has been started especially in terms of international cargo transportation. In this study, by examining the general structure of the transportation sector in Turkey, foresight of railway transportation until 2025 has been aimed to be made. In this frame, it is aimed to determine the role of the railway transportation in Turkeys potential economic development.