Technical Assistance for Reform of The Turkish Railways

The overall objective of this project is to restructure and reform Turkish Railways (TCDD) for opening up the sector for competition in line with the EU acquis. The specific objective of this project is to establish framework conditions for restructuring and reforming the rail sector for competition, including systems for infrastructure allocation, charging, safety and interoperability of TCDD. The project will cover a period of 24 months with a budget of 3.2 million Euros. Key activities of the project are grouped in three components:

• Component 1: Setting a strategy for establishing framework conditions in order to realize railway reform in line with the draft law package.
• Component 2: Strengthening capacity on infrastructure allocation and charging of the prospective infrastructure manager at new TCDD.
• Component 3: Strengthening capacity on safety and interoperability of the prospective infrastructure manager and railways undertakings at new TCDD.

By the end of the implementation period, the following outputs/ results are expected to be achieved:

•  A strategy and action plan for establishing framework conditions of restructuring and strengthening of Turkish rail sector,
• A system for infrastructure capacity allocation and charging,
• A network statement,
• Safety Management Systems (SMSs) of Business Units (BUs),
• A “gap analysis” and measures for gap plugging on rail safety and interoperability identifying difference between EU member states and Turkey,
• Determination of National Safety Rules,
• Training on safety, interoperability and infrastructure allocation and charging issues.