TWO Turkish metro and light rail lines opened at the end of February. Passenger services on the $US 313m Narlıdere extension of the Izmir Metro started running on February 26. It is a continuation of the existing line from Evka-3 to Fahrettin Altay.
The extension south from Fahrettin Altay has seven new stations at Balçova, Çağdaş, Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, Faculty of Fine Arts, Narlıdere, Martyrdom and District Governorship. To promote the opening, travel from any of these stations is free until April 15.
The new line brings the total length of Izmir Metro to 27km, with an end-to-end journey time of 45 minutes.
On February 26 the new T6 light rail line in Istanbul was opened by Turkish president, Mr Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. It is built on 8.3km of trackbed of the former mainline between Kazlıçeşme and Sirkeci.
The $US 15.1m reconstruction of the line included the upgrading of former suburban stations at Cankurturan, Cerrahpaşa, Kocamustafapaşa, Kumkapı, Sirkeci, Yedikule and Yenikapı, as well as construction of a new station at Kazlıçeşme.
Despite the light rail designation, services are operated by the same Hyundai Rotem class E32000 EMUs which run on the Marmaray commuter line in Istanbul.
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