OPEC Fund joins landmark Bosphorus railway project with a US$250 million loan

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) is joining an international effort of historic dimensions to close the missing link in rail traffic between Asia and Europe. A loan of US$250 million will support the construction of a 127 km greenfield railway line that will serve as a bypass of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area and provide a high-capacity overland crossing across the Bosphorus. The financing is the single largest in the OPEC Fund's history to date and is part of an approved financing package of up to US$500 million.

OPEC Fund President Abdulhamid Alkhalifa said: "Türkiye has been an important partner of the OPEC Fund for nearly five decades and our cooperation continues to grow in scale and ambition. This record financing marks a new milestone in our partnership and reflects our shared commitment to infrastructure that strengthens connectivity, competitiveness and sustainable growth. The Istanbul North Rail Crossing will support Türkiye's development while improving trade links between Europe, Asia and the Middle East."

The project will provide an integral missing link for the three international rail-served trade corridors crossing Istanbul: the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor linking China and Central Asia with Europe; the Iraq Development Road corridor, which will link Asia and the EU via the Middle East and Türkiye by rail; and the Türkiye-EU corridor, which accounts for a third of Türkiye's international trade. It will shift freight from road to lower-carbon electrified rail traffic and strengthen Türkiye's position as a logistics hub linking Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

The total investment of US$8.3 billion will be provided by an international group of sponsors led and administered by the World Bank and including the Asian Development Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Islamic Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the European Investment Bank alongside the Government of Türkiye.

Istanbul is one of the world's largest cities and spans two continents, but rail traffic across the Bosphorus strait currently depends on the Marmaray tunnel, which was built primarily for passenger services. Freight trains can use the tunnel only during limited nighttime periods, restricting annual rail freight capacity across the strait to around 3 million tonnes.

The project will address this constraint with a new 127 km electrified railway corridor between Çayırova on the Asian side and Çatalca on the European side, crossing the Bosphorus Strait using the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, also known as the Third Bridge. The new line will be double-tracked, electrified, fully signalized and mixed-used, designed to carry passengers and freight. The annual capacity of cross-Bosphorus rail freight will increase to 50 million tonnes.

The new railway will bypass Istanbul's congested urban core and connect Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport with each other and with the national rail network. While freight travel time between Çayırova and Çatalca will be reduced from around 13 hours to 3.6 hours, public transport travel between the two airports will be cut from approximately two hours to 65 minutes.

The OPEC Fund signed its first loan agreement with the Republic of Türkiye in 1979 and to date has approved almost US$850 million in financing of transport infrastructure, agriculture, health, energy and other sectors. Recent loans also addressed food security and climate resilience as pressing development challenges.

About the OPEC Fund

The OPEC Fund for International Development (the OPEC Fund) is the only globally mandated development institution that provides financing from member countries to non-member countries exclusively. The organization works in cooperation with developing country partners and the international development community to stimulate economic growth and social progress in low- and middle-income countries around the world. The OPEC Fund was established in 1976 with a distinct purpose: to drive development, strengthen communities and empower people. Our work is people-centered, focusing on financing projects that meet essential needs, such as food, energy, infrastructure, employment (particularly relating to MSMEs), clean water and sanitation, healthcare and education. To date, the OPEC Fund has committed more than US$32 billion to development projects in over 125 countries. These projects represent a total value exceeding US$240 billion, equivalent to approximately US$7.50 mobilized for every US$1 committed by the OPEC Fund. The OPEC Fund is rated AA+/Outlook Positive by Fitch and AA+/Outlook Stable by S&P. Our vision is a world where sustainable development is a reality for all.