TURKEY: The 14·3 km automated metro Line M8 linking Bostancı with Dudullu on the Anatolian side of Istanbul opened on January 6.
The line has 13 stations and passes through four districts with a total of 1·7 million inhabitants.
Civil works started in 2016 but were suspended at 55% completion in 2019 for a year because of a funding shortfall.
The fully automated metro line is capable of running with 90 sec headways and has capacity to move 44 400 passengers per hour per direction. Full-height platform screen doors have been installed at all stations.
Journey time between Bostancı and Dudullu is 21 min.
Interchange is provided with the Marmaray suburban rail line and ferries at Bostancı, with Line M5 at Dudullu, and with M4 at Kozyatağı and M5 at IMES.
As part of the project, underground park and ride facilities have been built at Bostancı and Kozyatağı. These have car parking spaces for a total of 2 831 vehicles.
Hyundai Rotem has supplied 10 four-car driverless trainsets under a December 2017 contract. Each train is 86·3 m long and 2 900 mm wide, with capacity for 1 081 passengers. They have a maximum speed of 80 km/h.
- A 2 km extension of the city’s M7 metro line from Mecidiyeköy to Yıldız with an intermediate station at Fulya opened on January 2. Line M7 is now 19·2 km long and serves 17 stations. It is currently being extended from Yıldız to Kabataş.
