Azerbaijan, Baku, October 3/Trend, R.Hafizoglu/
The Marmaray rail tunnel that will link the Asian and European parts of Istanbul will be launched on October 29, Turkish Minister of Transport, Maritime Traffic and Communications Binali Yildirim said, Anadolu agency reported.
According to the minister, preparation work is currently being carried out on the tunnel.
Earlier, Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime and Communication told Trend that the length of the railway will be 76.3 kilometres whilst the tunnel section will be some 13.6 kilometres of railway.
The transportation capacity of the railway will be 75,000 passengers per hour in one direction. Trains will depart every two minutes. The transport capacity for both directions will be 1.2 million passengers per day.
The ministry also said that, this is the only project of its kind, allowing the transport of both passengers and cargo through one tunnel.
After commissioning of the tunnel, the volume of rail transport in Istanbul will increase by 20 per cent, up to 28 per cent of the total transit volume.