Azerbaijan, Baku, October 22/Trend, R.Hafizoglu/
Marmaray project will be one of the most powerful projects in the region, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, TRT Haber TV channel reported on Tuesday.
According to him, the Marmaray rail tunnel that will link the Asian and European parts of Istanbul will be launched on October 29.
Earlier, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Traffic and Communications told Trend that the length of the tunnel will be 13.6 kilometres. 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 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.