By Arife Yildiz Unal, Ayşe Bocuoglu Bodur
ANKARA (AA) - Turkey invested over 767.5 billion Turkish liras (some $334 billion) in transportation infrastructure over the last 17 years, the country’s transport and infrastructure minister said on Thursday.
Speaking at a news conference in the capital Ankara, Cahit Turhan said the government will continue to invest in railway projects in line with the country's 2023 centennial targets.
"Turkey will have a total railway length of 17,525 kilometers (10,890 miles) after completion of a 5,509-kilometer-long (3,423-mile) new line," he said.
To date, a total of 53.1 million passengers have traveled through high-speed trains, Turhan noted.
He stated that the length of signaled lines surged by 155% to 6,382 kilometers (3,966 miles).
"Our railways, like the first years of the Republic, began to live the golden years," the minister said.
He underlined that Turkey aims to reach the rate of electric and signaled lines up to 77% by 2023.
"Within the scope of the National Train Projects, we continue the production of the national freight wagon whose concept, design and prototype was manufactured with local facilities."
The average U.S. dollar/Turkish lira exchange rate was 2.30 between 2002 and 2019.
* Writing by Aysu Bicer