Rail system vehicles are widely preferred both in urban and intercity transportation, as they provide safe and comfortable travel opportunities and provide economical, efficient and environment-oriented opportunities in freight transportation. For this reason, investments in rail system vehicles on a global scale are increasing rapidly.
In parallel with the increasing public investments in the railway and urban transportation sectors in Turkey, a significant need for towed and towed vehicles emerged. The vehicles used in the projects completed so far have been supplied from companies based abroad.
When only metro and tram vehicles are taken into account, 2,866 vehicles of 26 vehicle types have been imported from 12 companies in the last 30 years.
There is still a large amount of project stock in the railway and urban transport sector. It is important to prevent the outflow of resources abroad, to contribute to the country’s economy through the development of the domestic rail system vehicle industry and the export of the vehicles produced in the later stages.
Domestic production in rail system vehicles
Although there are companies producing rail system vehicles of different qualities in Turkey, the capacity utilization rates remain at a very low level, and vehicles are mostly produced with licenses of foreign companies. In this context, although there is a significant capacity in the domestic production of rail system vehicles in the country, their production capabilities have been distributed to different companies.
TÜVASAŞ, TÜLOMSAŞ and TÜDEMSAŞ, which carry out their activities as subsidiaries of TCDD for the design, production, maintenance and repair of rail system vehicles, as well as the localization of critical sub-components and increasing localization rates, were merged under the roof of the General Directorate of Turkey Rail System Vehicles Industry AŞ (TÜRASAŞ). .
TÜRASAŞ, which has the opportunity to produce locomotives, train sets, freight and passenger wagons locally and nationally, includes the development of R&D, design and production capabilities of the domestic industry, the design, manufacture, maintenance and repair of all rail system vehicles and critical components. taking.
Design and production work continues
It has been decided not to supply additional high-speed train sets from abroad, except for the high-speed train sets, whose supply processes are continuing, and to use the national electric train sets produced by TÜRASAŞ in high-speed and high-speed train lines.
In this context, it is aimed that TÜRASAŞ will rapidly develop the national railway industry and become a global manufacturer in the railway vehicle manufacturing industry.
While diesel train sets are produced under the license of a foreign company within TÜRASAŞ, the knowledge gained from the project is used in the production of national electric train sets.
As part of the production of national electric train sets, the aluminum body production facility, which has the capacity to serve all the rail system vehicles planned to be produced in the country, was put into service in 2019.
Within the scope of the production of the national electric train set, the assembly of the prototype suitable for 160 kilometers per hour and factory tests have been completed, and it is planned to deliver three train sets to TCDD in 2022.
It is aimed to create a national brand
It is aimed to realize the National High Speed Train Project, which can reach a speed of 225 kilometers per hour, by making the necessary design changes for the train sets to be used on high-speed train lines, by making use of the infrastructure and competence developed within the scope of the National Electric Train Set Project.
The design and production work of the national electric locomotive developed by TÜRASAŞ continues. While electric and diesel locomotives are produced under the license of a foreign company within TÜRASAŞ, it is aimed to use the experience gained from these projects in the production of national electric locomotives.
The prototype production of the new generation 8-cylinder diesel engine with a minimum of 1200 horsepower, the work of which was started in 2018, continues. The export of new generation national freight wagons, whose design, certification and manufacturing processes have been completed by TÜRASAŞ, continues.
It is envisaged to develop the R&D, design and production capabilities of the domestic industry for the production of rail system vehicles and critical components with domestic facilities and to create a national brand in this field.
