Ankara-Sivas High Speed Train Line (YHT), the opening of which has been postponed six times and the cost of which exceeds 10 billion TL, is inaugurated by President and AKP Chairman Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on September 4, although it is not completed. The train will be able to travel between Kayaş-Balıseyh stations at a speed of 60 kilometers per hour on the conventional line (classical train line) due to the incomplete completion of the line. Against the risk warnings, the focus is on the option of transporting passengers from Ankara to Kırıkkale by bus.
Opening with a ceremony on September 4
Ankara-Sivas YHT, whose foundation was laid in 2008, but whose opening has been postponed six times so far, will be opened with a ceremony to be attended by President Erdoğan on September 4, the anniversary of the Sivas Congress. Along the Ankara-Sivas YHT route with a length of 393 kilometers, there will be 10 stations, namely Ankara Station, Kayaş, Elmadağ, Kırıkkale, Yerköy, Yozgat, Sorgun, Akdağmadeni, Yıldızeli and Sivas.
It will go over the conventional line.
The works have not been completed yet in the Ankara Kayaş-Kırıkkale Balıseyh section of the line, which will be operated as electrical and signaled at a speed of 250 kilometers. According to the information obtained, TCDD officials are considering two options for the opening day and after. While it is evaluated that the train can travel at a maximum speed of 60 kilometers on the conventional line to Kırıkkale Balıseyh station, it can be stated that passengers can be transported from Ankara to Kırıkkale by bus against risk warnings, and the journey can be made in this way until the construction in this section is completed.
Do not invite accidents with a missing project
İsmail Özdemir, Secretary General of the United Transport Employees Union (BTS), criticizing the opening of the high-speed train line before it is fully completed, warned that "an invitation to accidents should not be made again with an incomplete project". Expressing that the government continues its familiar behavior in the past, Özdemir said:
“According to the information we received from our friends working on the Ankara-Sivas YHT line, we see that the construction has not been completed yet. The government continues its usual behavior in the past. They want to say, 'We started high-speed train operation in Sivas' as they have not been able to finish the work for years and cannot raise money for the contractors.
Level crossings pose risks
“However, lessons should have been learned from the accidents in the past due to the negligence revealed so far. The fact that the high-speed train set will go from Kayaş to Balıseyh station via the conventional line carries a great risk. There are level crossings even at low speed. These are big risks. It is a huge mistake to open this line unless the infrastructure is made safe. We hope that there will be no mistakes and accidents in the past. We are facing an alarming situation.”
It had turned into a crisis
Since the Ankara-Sivas YHT line could not be completed for years, it also turned into a crisis within the AKP. Addressing the people in Sivas, where he went in February for the 2019 local election rally, President Erdoğan said, “The Minister of Transport is also here. He warned Minister Cahit Turhan with the words "If he doesn't follow up and finish the job, thank you, goodbye". Seven months later, Erdoğan addressed Turhan in a program he attended again in Sivas and said, “According to him, I have conveyed the word I received from you here. Okay, we'll hold tight. Now the ball is out of me. I guess if he doesn't fulfill his promise, we will pull the rope differently, according to him”. Turhan, who was dismissed by Erdoğan on March 29, 2020, became the first dismissed minister of the Presidential Government System.
Source: Eray Görgülü / T24
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