Turkish capital gets revamped suburban rail line

By Diyar Guldogan

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday inaugurated a renovated suburban rail line in the capital Ankara.

During the opening ceremony, Erdogan said Ankara had taken remarkable steps in modernizing the urban setting over the past 15 years.

He said the renovated line, "Baskentray", will be free of charge until 24 April.

The 36-kilometer long (22 miles) rail line will operate on 15 tracks and 23 stations between the eastern suburb of Kayas, the city center, and Sincan suburb to the west of the capital, according to the Turkish State Railways.

Also speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said the project had cost around 1.22 billion Turkish liras (nearly $293 million).

Yildirim said the project was completed in 20 months.

Baskentray is expected to carry 500,000 commuters daily with departures every five minutes on 96 bogies.

The line is integrated into the capital's light metro system Ankaray at three stations at city's main commercial hub Kizilay, and Yenisehir, Kurtulus, and Maltepe stations.