Azerbaijan, Baku, May 16 / Trend A.Tagiyeva /
According to project director Haluk Ozmen Ibrahim, a test drive through the Marmaray rail tunnel connecting the Asian and European parts of Istanbul is scheduled to be held on August 1, Sabah newspaper reported on Thursday.
According to the report, after the test drive the project will be fully commissioned in October this year. To date, the construction of about 95 per cent of the tunnel has already been completed, Ibrahim said.
"Most of the construction works have been completed. The rails have already been laid in the tunnel," he said. All 35 cars to be used in the project are also at the stage of manufacturing.
Earlier, the Ministry of Transport, Navigation and Communications of Turkey told Trend that the railroad's length will be 76.3 kilometres, including 13.6 kilometres in the tunnel.
The railroad's projected capacity is 75,000 passengers per hour in one direction. Trains will depart every two minutes. Transportation capacity in both directions will be 1.2 million passengers a day.
After commissioning the tunnel, rail traffic in Istanbul will increase by 20 per cent to 28 per cent of the total traffic amount.