Ankara to host international high speed rail event

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) - Over 1,000 high-speed rail experts from all around the world will meet in the Turkish capital this week.

The World Congress on High Speed Rail will be held in Ankara from May 8-11, under the patronage of the prime ministry.

The International Union of Railways (UIC) and the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) are organizing the 10th iteration of the event.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim and Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications Minister Ahmet Aslan are expected to attend the event.

The main theme of the congress is "sharing knowledge for sustainable and competitive operations", according to its website.

The congress will be organized around three main blocks: sessions, trade exhibition and technical visits.

The biyearly congress is the most prominent and large-scale global event on high-speed rail. Previously, it was hosted by Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, China, the U.S. and Japan.

In recent years, Turkey has carried out a series of high-speed railway projects, starting with opening of Ankara-Eskisehir line in 2009. In 2011, over 200-kilometer Ankara-Konya line entered service, followed by Eskisehir-Istanbul line in 2014.

The country is still working on 625-km Ankara-Izmir high-speed railway line and around 400-km Ankara-Sivas line.