Dubious exclusion of old station in new railway

While the promise of the new Marmaray Project to ease Istanbul’s traffic on both sides of the Bosphorus may feel like it has been only a few years in the planning, it is a little known fact that the idea for the proposal was actually first raised nearly 150 years ago.

The project, now underway, promises to end current problems through a secure transportation system, with both sides of the city connected by a railway tunnel under the straight. A similar project was first proposed back in 1860.

After many debates on the railway transportation system, numerous developments have taken place and various designs developed, as new technology has allowed more freedom with the design. While the project as a whole is being discussed for its advantages to residents, there are also arguments that the project is in fact in the vested interest of certain groups. And the historic Haydarpaşa train station is in the center of allegations.

"The first comprehensive feasibility study, carried out in 1987, included Haydarpaşa, the historic train station on the Asian side of the city," said Hasan Bektaş, head of the department of Istanbul office of Joint Transportation Union, or BTS.

Now the project bypasses Haydarpaşa all together. It connects Halkalı on the European side with Gebze on the Asian side, goes underground at Yedikule, continues through the Yenikapı and Sirkeci new underground stations, passes under the Bosphorus, connects to the new Üsküdar underground station and emerges at Sögütlüçeşme.

Talking to Hürriyet Daily News Bektaş said, the information about the "Marmaray Project" has only ever been presented by officials, who have always given a rosy picture.

"They say that Istanbul’s biggest problem is traffic and talk about the Marmaray Project as a savior." Yet, according to him people should be more aware of what has really been going on throughout the project. Agreeing that an efficient railway system is a must, Bektaş said, "Until today, they preferred to extend the motorways and this put us in a situation dependent on other countries for oil."

The Marmaray Project, at the initial stage, was going to be led by the Turkish State Railways, or TCDD. Citing that the project changed before it came on the agenda again, he said the project in its current form aims at stopping the effectiveness of Haydarpaşa.

The train station, which is located by the Bosphorus, has been planned many times over the years to be sold to foreign companies with other construction plans in mind.

"They first told people that the area would look like New York’s Manhattan, now they have a plan to make it look like Italy’s Venice," said Bektaş, with frustration. For Bektaş, the 150-year-old Haydarpaşa train station, one of the most charming symbols of Istanbul, is very unique and should not be made to look like any other place in the world.

The members of the Joint Transportation Union applied to The Commission for the Protection of Cultural and Natural Heritage last year for Haydarpaşa train station to be placed among protected areas.

The commission accepted the application, yet, after a short time, an unexpected thing happened: the General Administration of TCDD sued the commission for taking on such a decision.

Hüseyin Güngör, member of the administrative board of the Greens Party, said the train station "which has been a special place for people reuniting, the Turkish film industry and all locals of Istanbul" would be left to its own fate if no one reacted quickly.

Noting that the general management of the TCDD and the Istanbul municipality were acting in their own interest, Güngör said that both institutions want to sell the area where Haydarpaşa now sits.

There is one point people were never really informed about all these years, said Bektaş, "The plan to sell Haydarpaşa is not a plan to demolish the building; the building will be moved somewhere else to be used as a museum or for another purpose. "If Haydarpaşa is relocated and the railway system comes to an end, Istanbul will lose one of its most important and meaningful sites," Güngör said.

During the Marmaray Project many highways are being closed for construction and one of them will be the route between Gebze and Haydarpaşa, to close Dec. 8, according to the information Bektaş gave.

Not convinced that the project would fully heal Istanbul’s traffic problems, Bektaş claimed they did not have to close the roads. Instead they could rehabilitate the motorways during the project.

The secretariat of the BTS, Selahattin Nesipoğlu, said it is possible to carry 30,000 people using the lines from Haydarpaşa, but this requires investing in the railways and renewing the wagons.

The end-to-end travel time once the underwater railway project will be complete: nearly minutes.

The Marmaray Project’s first of 11 tube tunnel parts to be installed beneath the Bosphorus was submerged the end of September.

In 1995, it was decided to make conduct a more detailed study and update the feasibility studies, including the passenger demand forecast, taken in 1987.

These studies were concluded in 1998 and the conclusions underlined the earlier conclusions that the project would offer many advantages to the people working and living in Istanbul: it would ease the rapidly growing problems regarding traffic congestion in the city.

In 1999, a funding agreement between the Republic of Turkey and the Japanese Bank for International Cooperation, or JBIC, was signed.

This loan agreement forms the basis for the funding of the Bosphorus crossing part of the project, which represents some 35 percent of the costs for the entire railway project.

In 2003 and 2004 discussions were held with the European Investment Bank, or EIB, to make funding agreements for major portions of the project. Principle agreements to fund major portions of the Commuter Rail Systems were made in autumn 2004.

The expected travel time both ends of the project is 105 minutes.