High speed rail development in Turkey: Government policy, investments and users perspective

---

Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi, Mimarlık Fakültesi, Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Bölümü, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2014

Öğrenci: GÜLÇİN DALKIÇ

Eş Danışman: ELA BABALIK, HEDİYE TÜYDEŞ YAMAN

Özet:

Sustainable development has become a major goal for development policies of governments, local, national, and even supra-national. The transport sector often receives a major emphasis in these policies because it is one of the least sustainable sectors therefore it is crucial to restructure transport policies and create a shift towards sustainable modes of transport. Due to its relatively lower emission impact and energy consumption, railways receive increasing emphasis that have resulted in extensive investment in rail networks. High speed railway (HSR) investments are the one of the important components of this transport strategy to reduce carbon intensive long-distance travel because when HSR operates, it is expected that there will be a shift from road and air to rail. In Turkey there is a recent trend in rail policies and projects in Turkey that focus on the development of HSR. There are many projects in planning stage. Increasing investment of HSR projects can bring many environmental, social and physical externalities. However, they can be effective in reducing CO2 emissions in the transport sector. This is often the justification of investment in rail systems; however, this desired impact can only occur if there is a shift to railways from road and air transport. If the shift does not happen, benefits expected from railway investments cannot be realized. This thesis aims to analyze HSR investments in Turkey by focusing on possible shifts from road to rail transport. In order to project that passenger shift, a user survey has been carried out in the cities that have HSR investment in planning phase. It aims to find under which condition people change their travel behavior and the expected shift can be realized. The analysis also highlights what kind of policies should be implemented to encourage a modal shift from road to rail transportation.