Türkiye has received 25 bids to build the Istanbul North Rail Crossing (INRAIL), a new 127-kilometre railway that will take freight across the Bosphorus north of the city. It is supposed to provide a huge rail freight capacity boost. Chinese contractors are among the bidders.
The Turkish General Directorate of Infrastructure Investments (AYGM) collected the bids for the four construction lots on 11 November 2026. The double-tracked and electrified line will cross the Bosphorus via the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge north of Istanbul. Its annual freight capacity will be 50 million tonnes (up from 3 million tonnes now).
Chinese and Italian interest
China Civil Engineering bid on its own for the two middle lots, including the section with the Bosphorus crossing. Moreover, Chinese companies CRTG and CREEC bid for all four lots in a consortium led by Turkish contractor Limak İnşaat. The Italian group Webuild, together with Turkish IC İçtaş, also competed for the entire route.
The bypass should relieve Istanbul’s rail network of freight traffic and support Türkiye’s Middle Corridor strategy. The project is financed by international lenders including the World Bank, the EBRD and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). AYGM will now evaluate the bids.