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69-674: 15 minutes (Halkalı – Gebze) Marmaray ( pronounced [ˈmaɾmaɾaj] ) is a 76.6-kilometre-long (47.6 mi) commuter rail line located in Istanbul , Turkey . The line runs from Halkalı , on the European side , to Gebze , on the Asian side , along the north shore of the Sea of Marmara . Mostly using the right-of-way of two existing commuter rail lines, the Marmaray line linked

138-450: A published timetable and use dedicated tracks (underground or elevated), whereas commuter rail often shares tracks, technology and the legal framework within mainline railway systems, and uses rolling stocks with more seating and higher speed for comfort on longer city-suburban journeys. However, the classification as a metro or rapid rail can be difficult as both may typically cover a metropolitan area exclusively, run on separate tracks in

207-510: A schedule rather than fixed intervals, and fewer stations spaced further apart. They primarily serve lower density suburban areas (non inner-city), generally only having one or two stops in a city's central business district, and often share right-of-way with intercity or freight trains. Some services operate only during peak hours and others use fewer departures during off peak hours and weekends. Average speeds are high, often 50 km/h (30 mph) or higher. These higher speeds better serve

276-586: A wide variety of different features and service frequencies, but is often used in contrast to rapid transit or light rail . Some services share similarities with both commuter rail and high-frequency rapid transit ; examples include New Jersey Transit in the U.S., German S-Bahn in some cities, the Réseau Express Régional (RER) in Paris, the S Lines in Milan, many Japanese commuter systems,

345-570: Is 27.63 km (17.17 mi) from the Istanbul Sirkeci Terminal . The Halkalı logistics center and the old Halkalı electric train maintenance depot are located near the station. The station is next to Lake Küçükçekmece and services the population in north-central Küçükçekmece . The terminal is the departure terminal for all freight trains to Europe and is an important container terminal, used by rail container lines IFB, Express Interfracht, Europe Intermodal and Metrans. It

414-439: Is a portmanteau of the words Marmara and Ray , which is Turkish for rail . Construction started in 2004 and was originally intended to be completed by April 2009. After multiple delays caused – among other things – by the discovery of historical and archaeological sites along the route as new stations were built, the first phase of the project was finally opened by president Erdoğan on October 29, 2013. The second phase of

483-669: Is accessed via tunnels bored from Kazlıçeşme on the European side and Ayrılıkçeşmesi on the Asian side of Istanbul and represents the world's deepest undersea immersed tube tunnel. Fire-resistant concrete developed in Norway was essential for the safety of the project. Construction started in May 2004 and the Marmaray tunnel was completed on September 23, 2008, with a formal ceremony to mark its completion on October 13. The second phase of

552-427: Is crossed by a 1.4-kilometre-long (0.87 mi) earthquake-proofed immersed tube , assembled from 11 sections – eight are 135 metres (443 ft) long, two are 98.5 metres (323 ft), and one element is 110 metres (360 ft). Each section weighs up to 18,000 tons. The tube was placed 60 metres (197 ft) below sea level, beneath 55 metres (180 ft) of water and 4.6 metres (15 ft 1 in) of earth. It

621-935: Is especially the case for lines operated by Korail , such as the Gyeongui-Jungang Line , the Gyeongchun Line , the Suin-Bundang Line , or the Gyeonggang Line . Even some lines not operated by Korail, such as the AREX Line, the Seohae Line or the Shinbundang Line mostly function as commuter rail. Lastly, even for the "numbered lines" (1–9) of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway which mostly travel in

690-603: Is heavily used by commuters in the Greater Tokyo Area , who commute between 100 and 200 km (62 and 124 mi) by Shinkansen . To meet the demand of commuters, JR sells commuter discount passes. Before 2021, they operated 16-car bilevel E4 Series Shinkansen trains at rush hour, providing a capacity of 1,600 seats. Several lines in China, such as the Beijing–Tianjin Intercity Railway and

759-684: Is integrated with other parts of the Istanbul public transport network, including the Metro and the Metrobus network, via a number of interchanges. It is also integrated with the YHT high-speed train network to Ankara , Eskişehir and Konya , as well as with the international trains to Sofia in Bulgaria which depart from Halkalı. The project involved building a 13.6-kilometre (8.5 mi) tunnel under

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828-417: Is often a case of asset sweating , by using a single large combined fleet for intercity and regional services. Loco hauled services are usually run in push-pull formation, that is, the train can run with the locomotive at the "front" or "rear" of the train (pushing or pulling). Trains are often equipped with a control cab at the other end of the train from the locomotive, allowing the train operator to operate

897-1963: Is one suburban rail called the Chittagong Circular Railway . Another suburban railway called the Dhaka Circular Railway is currently proposed. Karachi in Pakistan has a circular railway since 1969. Tehran Metro currently operates the Line 5 commuter line between Tehran and Karaj . Turkey has lines connecting Başkentray , İZBAN , Marmaray and Gaziray . Major metropolitan areas in most European countries are usually served by extensive commuter/suburban rail systems. Well-known examples include BG Voz in Belgrade (Serbia), S-Bahn in Germany, Austria and German-speaking areas of Switzerland, Proastiakos in Greece, RER in France and Belgium, Servizio ferroviario suburbano in Italy, Cercanías and Rodalies ( Catalonia ) in Spain, CP Urban Services in Portugal, Esko in Prague and Ostrava (Czech Republic), HÉV in Budapest (Hungary) and DART in Dublin (Ireland). London has multiple commuter rail routes: The Merseyrail network in Liverpool consists of two commuter rail routes powered by third rail, both of which branch out at one end. At

966-495: Is only about 18 kilometres (11 mi) away from the active North Anatolian Fault and has worried some engineers and seismologists. "Since AD 342, it has seen large earthquakes that each claimed more than 10,000 lives." Some scientists have estimated a 77% probability that, at some time in the next 30 years, Istanbul will suffer an earthquake measuring 7.0 or more on the Richter magnitude scale . The waterlogged, silty soil on which

1035-470: Is operationally more like a typical metro system (frequent trains, an emphasis on standing passengers , short station spacings) than it is like commuter rail in other countries. Japanese commuter rail commonly interline with city center subway lines, with commuter rail trains continuing into the subway network, and then out onto different commuter rail systems on the other side of the city. Many Japanese commuter systems operate various stopping patterns to reduce

1104-418: Is possible that the Marmaray will eventually be extended to Ispartakule, which may cause further construction works and closures in the future. As Halkalı is now surrounded by residential areas due to the growth of the city, its role as the main customs post for trucks to Europe is due to end, with trucks using the new Muratbey Customs Office (Muratbey Gümrük Müdürlüğü) in Çatalca instead. A Metro line from

1173-526: Is still possible to tell them apart. Some operators, for example Thameslink , focus solely on commuter services. Others, such as Avanti West Coast and LNER , run solely intercity services. Others still, such as GWR and EMR , run a mixture of commuter, regional and intercity services. Some of these operators use different branding for different types of service (for example EMR brands its trains as either "InterCity", "Connect" for London commuter services, and "Regional") but even for those operators that do not,

1242-579: Is used in Australia (Sydney for example) to describe the regional trains operating beyond the boundaries of the suburban services, even though some of these "inter-city" services stop all stations similar to German regional services. In this regard, the German service delineations and naming conventions are clearer and better used for academic purposes. Sometimes high-speed rail can serve daily use of commuters. The Japanese Shinkansen high speed rail system

1311-426: Is widely used in many commuter rail trains to increase capacity in rush hours. Carriages are usually not organized to increase seating capacity (although in some trains at least one carriage would feature more doors to facilitate easier boarding and alighting and bench seats so that they can be folded up during rush hour to provide more standing room) even in the case of commuting longer than 50 km and commuters in

1380-615: The Bosphorus and upgrading 63 kilometres (39.1 mi) of existing suburban railway lines to create a 76.6-kilometre (47.6 mi) high-capacity passenger line between Halkalı and Gebze , along with the provision of 440 electric multiple unit carriages. The contract for the project was awarded to a Japanese-Turkish consortium led by Taisei Corporation in July 2004. The consortium included Gama Endustri Tesisleri Imalat ve Montaj and Nurol Construction . The Bosphorus (Istanbul Strait)

1449-769: The Chennai MRTS , also covers over 300 stations and carries more than 2.5 million people daily to different areas in Chennai and its surroundings. Other commuter railways in India include the Hyderabad MMTS , Delhi Suburban Railway , Pune Suburban Railway and Lucknow-Kanpur Suburban Railway . In 2020, Government of India approved Bengaluru Suburban Railway to connect Bengaluru and its suburbs. It will be unique and first of its kind in India as it will have metro like facilities and rolling stock. In Bangladesh, there

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1518-804: The East Rail line in Hong Kong, and some Australasian suburban networks, such as Sydney Trains . Many commuter rail systems share tracks with other passenger services and freight . In North America, commuter rail sometimes refers only to systems that primarily operate during rush hour and offer little to no service for the rest of the day, with regional rail being used to refer to systems that offer all-day service. Most commuter (or suburban) trains are built to main line rail standards, differing from light rail or rapid transit (metro rail) systems by: Compared to rapid transit (or metro rail), commuter/suburban rail often has lower frequency , following

1587-767: The European Investment Bank (EBI) provided much of the financing for the project. By April 2006, the JICA had lent 111 billion yen and the EIB 1.05 billion euro for the work. The original cost was estimated at $ 4.5 billion although it finally cost almost twice that. The Marmaray uses TCDD E32000 rolling stock manufactured by Hyundai Rotem in ten- and five-car EMU configurations. The original €580 million contract called for 440 vehicles to be produced locally by Eurotem , Hyundai Rotem's joint venture with Turkish rolling stock manufacturer TÜVASAŞ . Hyundai Rotem

1656-528: The Greater Tokyo Area , Seoul metropolitan area , and Jabodetabek area have to stand in the train for more than an hour. Currently there are not many examples of commuter rail in Africa . Metrorail operates in the major cities of South Africa , and there are some commuter rail services in Algeria , Botswana , Kenya , Morocco , Egypt and Tunisia . In Algeria, SNTF operates commuter rail lines between

1725-845: The Guangshen Railway have more frequent metro-like service. The two MTR lines which are owned and formerly operated by the Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation ( East Rail line and Tuen Ma line which is integrated from the former West Rail line and Ma On Shan line in 2021), then the "KCR" ), and MTR's own Tung Chung line connect the new towns in New Territories and the city centre Kowloon together with frequent intervals, and some New Territories-bound trains terminate at intermediate stations, providing more frequent services in Kowloon and

1794-585: The Jakarta city center with surrounding cities and sub-urbans in Banten and West Java provinces, including Depok , Bogor , Tangerang , Serpong , Rangkasbitung , Bekasi and Cikarang . In July 2015, KRL Commuterline served more than 850,000 passengers per day, which is almost triple of the 2011 figures, but still less than 3.5% of all Jabodetabek commutes. Other commuter rail systems in Indonesia include

1863-1023: The Metro Surabaya Commuter Line , Commuter Line Bandung , KAI Commuter Yogyakarta–Solo Line , Kedung Sepur , and the Sri Lelawangsa . In the Philippines, the Philippine National Railways has two commuter rail systems currently operational; the PNR Metro Commuter Line in the Greater Manila Area and the PNR Bicol Commuter in the Bicol Region . A new commuter rail line in Metro Manila,

1932-614: The North–South Commuter Railway , is currently under construction. Its North section is set to be partially opened by 2021. In Malaysia, there are two commuter services operated by Keretapi Tanah Melayu . They are the KTM Komuter that serves Kuala Lumpur and the surrounding Klang Valley area , and the KTM Komuter Northern Sector that serves Greater Penang , Perak , Kedah and Perlis in

2001-767: The Shanghai–Nanjing High-Speed Railway , serve a similar role with many more under construction or planned. In South Korea, some sections of the high-speed rail network are also heavily used by commuters, such as the section between Gwangmyeong Station and Seoul Station on the KTX network ( Gyeongbu HSR Line ), or the section between Dongtan Station and Suseo station on the SRT Line. The high-speed services linking Zürich , Bern and Basel in Switzerland (200 km/h (120 mph)) have brought

2070-588: The Underground and the Overground , Elizabeth line , Thameslink along with other commuter rail operators , Madrid's Metro and Cercanías , Barcelona's Metro and Rodalies , and Tokyo's subway and the JR lines along with various privately owned and operated commuter rail systems. Regional rail usually provides rail services between towns and cities, rather than purely linking major population hubs in

2139-605: The Yamanote Line , Keihin Tohoku Line , Chūō–Sōbu Line services arguably are more akin to rapid transit with frequent stops, simple stopping patterns (relative to other JR East lines) no branching services and largely serving the inner suburbs; other services along the Chūō Rapid Line , Sōbu Rapid Line / Yokosuka Line , Ueno–Tokyo Line , Shōnan–Shinjuku Line etc. are mid-distance services from suburban lines in

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2208-502: The 300 km/h (186 mph) Nuremberg–Ingolstadt high-speed railway . The regional trains Stockholm – Uppsala , Stockholm– Västerås , Stockholm– Eskilstuna and Gothenburg – Trollhättan in Sweden reach 200 km/h (120 mph) and have many daily commuters. In Great Britain , the HS1 domestic services between London and Ashford runs at a top speed of 225 km/h, and in peak hours

2277-528: The Central Business Districts (CBDs) of these three cities within 1 hour of each other. This has resulted in unexpectedly high demand for new commuter trips between the three cities and a corresponding increase in suburban rail passengers accessing the high-speed services at the main city-centre stations ( Hauptbahnhof ). The Regional-Express commuter service between Munich and Nuremberg in Germany runs at 200 km/h (120 mph) on

2346-570: The East Rail Line share tracks with intercity trains to mainland China . The three KCR lines are integrated into the MTR network since 2008 and most passengers do not need to exit and re-enter the system through separate fare gates and purchase separate tickets to transfer between such lines and the rest of the network (the exceptions are between the Tuen Ma line's East Tsim Sha Tsui station and

2415-760: The Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe , the Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta , the Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud , and a number of foreign civil servants. On November 7, 2019, the first Chinese freight train to Europe ran through the tunnel. This demonstrated that the China to Turkey transportation time could be reduced from a month to 12 days as part of the Iron Silk Road concept. The tunnel construction

2484-570: The Marmaray from Ayrılıkçeşmesi station (originally İbrahimağa station) on the Asian side under the Bosphorus and back again. On October 29, 2013, the first stage of the Marmaray project, the underground tunnel between Europe and Asia, was inaugurated on the 90th anniversary of the Turkish Republic'. The maiden journey took place after a grand opening ceremony attended by President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Erdoğan, as well as by

2553-416: The Marmaray will help to create a modern "Iron Silk Road " by allowing freight trains to travel between Europe and China . Freight trains that are not carrying dangerous goods will be able to use the tunnel when commuter services are not operating (between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m.). At other times only passenger trains will be in the tunnels. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and

2622-433: The Netherlands carry many commuters, while their equipment, range, and speeds are similar to those of commuter trains in some larger countries. The United Kingdom has a privatised rail system, with different routes and services covered by different private operators. The distinction between commuter and intercity rail is not as clear as it was before privatisation (when InterCity existed as a brand of its own), but usually it

2691-411: The Tsuen Wan line's Tsim Sha Tsui station . In Taiwan, the Western line in the Taipei - Taoyuan Metropolitan Area, Taichung Metropolitan Area and Tainan - Kaohsiung Metropolitan Area as well as the Neiwan - Liujia line in the Hsinchu Area are considered commuter rail. In South Korea, the Seoul Metropolitan Subway includes a total of 22 lines, and some of its lines are suburban lines. This

2760-416: The US and Melbourne and Adelaide in Australia, use broad gauge track. Metro rail and rapid transit usually cover smaller inner-urban areas within 12 to 20 km (7 to 12 mi) of city centers, with shorter stop spacing, use rolling stocks with larger standing spaces, lower top speed and higher acceleration, designed for short-distance travel. They also run more frequently, to a headway rather than

2829-467: The capital Algiers and its southern and eastern suburbs. They also serve to connect Algiers ' main universities to each other. The Dar es Salaam commuter rail offers intracity services in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania. In Botswana, the ( Botswana Railways ) "BR Express" has a commuter train between Lobatse and Gaborone . In Japan, commuter rail systems have extensive network and frequent service and are heavily used. In many cases, Japanese commuter rail

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2898-472: The centre, and often feature purpose-built rolling stock. The fact that the terminology is not standardised across countries (even across English-speaking countries) further complicates matters. This distinction is most easily made when there are two (or more) systems such as New York's subway and the LIRR and Metro-North Railroad , Paris' Métro and RER along with Transilien , Washington D.C.'s Metro along with its MARC and VRE , London's tube lines of

2967-414: The city's largest harbour, the 4th-century Harbour of Eleutherios (originally known as the Harbour of Theodosius). Archaeologists also uncovered traces of the city wall of Constantine the Great , and the remains of several ships, including what appears to be the only ancient or early medieval galley ever discovered, preventing the project from proceeding as planned. In addition, archaeologists uncovered

3036-417: The dense parts of Seoul, some track sections extend far outside of the city, and operate large sections at ground level, such as on the Line 1 , Line 3 and Line 4 . In Busan, the Donghae Line , while part of the Busan Metro system, mostly functions as a commuter rail line. In Indonesia , the KRL Commuterline is the largest commuter rail system in the country, serving the Greater Jakarta . It connects

3105-416: The former BR 's Regional Railways , France's TER ( Transport express régional ), Germany's Regionalexpress and Regionalbahn , and South Korea's Tonggeun and Mugunghwa-ho services. In some European countries, the distinction between commuter trains and long-distance/intercity trains is subtle, due to the relatively short distances involved. For example, so-called " intercity " trains in Belgium and

3174-567: The inner parts of the network. Most such trains run on the local standard gauge track. Some systems may run on a narrower or broader gauge. Examples of narrow gauge systems are found in Japan, Indonesia , Malaysia , Thailand , Taiwan, Switzerland, in the Brisbane ( Queensland Rail 's City network ) and Perth ( Transperth ) systems in Australia, in some systems in Sweden, and on the Genoa-Casella line in Italy. Some countries and regions, including Finland , India, Pakistan, Russia , Brazil and Sri Lanka, as well as San Francisco ( BART ) in

3243-400: The joints of the tunnel are able to close and isolate water in the event of the walls failing. Steen Lykke, project manager for Avrasyaconsult, the international consortium that oversaw the construction, summed the problems up by saying, "I can't think of any challenge this project lacks". Some figures of the project are as follows: Commuter rail The term can refer to systems with

3312-431: The line were rebuilt or completely refurbished. Signalling was also modernised to allow trains to travel as close as two minutes apart (although in reality far fewer trains than that actually run). The suburban-rail upgrade part of the project, known originally as CR1, was first awarded to the AMD Rail Consortium, comprising Marubeni of Japan, Dogus Insaat of Turkey and Alstom of France. However, they were unable to complete

3381-536: The longer distances involved. Some services include express services which skip some stations in order to run faster and separate longer distance riders from short-distance ones. The general range of commuter trains' travel distance varies between 15 and 200 km (10 and 125 miles), but longer distances can be covered when the trains run between two or several cities (e.g. S-Bahn in the Ruhr area of Germany). Distances between stations may vary, but are usually much longer than those of urban rail systems. In city centres

3450-502: The northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. In Thailand, the Greater Bangkok Commuter rail and the Airport Rail Link serve the Bangkok Metropolitan Region . The SRT Red Lines , a new commuter line in Bangkok, started construction in 2009. It opened in 2021. Another commuter rail system in Southeast Asia is the Yangon Circular Railway in Myanmar . In India, commuter rail systems are present in major cities and form an important part of people's daily lives. Mumbai Suburban Railway ,

3519-889: The number expected to rise even higher upon full completion of the Acharnes Railway Center . Eskişehir-Ankara and Konya-Ankara high speed train routes serve as high speed commuter trains in Turkey. Commuter/suburban trains are usually optimized for maximum passenger volume, in most cases without sacrificing too much comfort and luggage space, though they seldom have all the amenities of long-distance trains. Cars may be single- or double-level , and aim to provide seating for all. Compared to intercity trains, they have less space, fewer amenities and limited baggage areas. Commuter rail trains are usually composed of multiple units , which are self-propelled, bidirectional, articulated passenger rail cars with driving motors on each (or every other) bogie . Depending on local circumstances and tradition they may be powered either by diesel engines located below

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3588-424: The oldest evidence of settlement in Istanbul, with artefacts, including amphorae , pottery fragments, shells, pieces of bone and horse skulls, and nine human skulls found in a bag, dating back to 6,000 BCE. Glass artefacts and fragments dating from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods were also found during excavations at Sirkeci. On August 4, 2013, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan , test-drove

3657-417: The oldest suburban rail system in Asia, carries more than 7.24 million commuters on a daily basis which constitutes more than half of the total daily passenger capacity of the Indian Railways itself. Kolkata Suburban Railway , one of the largest suburban railway networks in the world, consists of more than 450 stations and carries more than 3.5 million commuters per day. The Chennai Suburban Railway along with

3726-499: The other, the Northern line continues out of the city centre to a mainline rail interchange, while the Wirral line has a city-centre loop. Halkal%C4%B1 railway station Halkalı station ( Turkish : Halkalı garı ) is the westernmost station on the Marmaray line as well as in Istanbul . The station also services regional trains to Edirne , Uzunköprü , Çerkezköy and international trains to Sofia . In summer, there may be through trains to Bucharest too. Halkalı station

3795-581: The outer reaches of Greater Tokyo through operating into these lines to form a high frequency corridor though central Tokyo. Other commuter rail routes in Japan include: Commuter rail systems have been inaugurated in several cities in China such as Beijing , Shanghai , Zhengzhou , Wuhan , Changsha and the Pearl River Delta . With plans for large systems in northeastern Zhejiang , Jingjinji , and Yangtze River Delta areas. The level of service varies considerably from line to line ranging high to near high speeds. More developed and established lines such as

3864-423: The passenger compartment ( diesel multiple units ) or by electricity picked up from third rails or overhead lines ( electric multiple units ). Multiple units are almost invariably equipped with control cabs at both ends, which is why such units are so frequently used to provide commuter services, due to the associated short turn-around time. Locomotive hauled services are used in some countries or locations. This

3933-504: The project involved the renewal of the old suburban railway that ran between Halkalı and Kazlıçeşme on the European side of Istanbul and between Ayrılıkçeşmesi and Gebze on the Asian side. The work was meant to be completed at the same time as the first phase (the tunnel and underground sections), but was delayed until March, 2019. A third line was added to enable the electric multiple unit (EMU) cars and other railway carriages to move separately. Thirty-six above-ground stations along

4002-443: The project was scheduled to open in 2015 but work once again stopped in 2014. It was restarted in February 2017 and the line finally opened in its entirety on March 12, 2019. The trains came with completely new rolling stock , with carriages that can be walked through from end to end. The line can carry 75,000 passengers per hour in each direction (PPHPD). Travel time from Halkali to Gebze normally takes 104 minutes. The Marmaray

4071-461: The towns closer to Kowloon. They use rolling stocks with a faster maximum speed and have longer stop spacing compared to other lines which only run in the inner urban area, but in order to maximise capacity and throughput, these rolling stocks have longitudinal seatings, 5 pairs of doors in each carriage with large standing spaces like the urban lines, and run as frequent as well. Most of the sections of these four lines are overground and some sections of

4140-494: The train either has a terminal station or passes through the city centre with notably fewer station stops than those of urban rail systems. Toilets are often available on-board trains and in stations. Their ability to coexist with freight or intercity services in the same right-of-way can drastically reduce system construction costs. However, frequently they are built with dedicated tracks within that right-of-way to prevent delays, especially where service densities have converged in

4209-515: The train from either end. The motive power for locomotive-hauled commuter trains may be either electric or diesel–electric , although some countries, such as Germany and some of the former Soviet-bloc countries, also use diesel–hydraulic locomotives. In the US and some other countries, a three-and-two seat plan is used. Middle seats on these trains are often less popular because passengers feel crowded and uncomfortable. In Japan, South Korea and Indonesia, longitudinal (sideways window-lining) seating

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4278-450: The trains can be full with commuters standing. The Athens Suburban Railway in Greece consists of five lines, 4 of which are electrified. The Kiato – Piraeus line and the Aigio – Airport lines reach speeds of up to 180 km/h (112 mph). The Athens – Chalcis line is also expected to attain speeds of up to 200 km/h (124 mph) upon upgrading of the SKA–Oinoi railway sector. These lines also have many daily commuters, with

4347-418: The travel time to distant locations, often using station passing loops instead of dedicated express tracks. It is notable that the larger Japanese commuter rail systems are owned and operated by for-profit private railway companies, without public subsidy. East Japan Railway Company operates a large suburban train network in Tokyo with various lines connecting the suburban areas to the city center. While

4416-426: The tunnel is constructed has been known to liquefy during an earthquake so engineers injected industrial grout to 24 metres (79 ft) below the seabed to keep it stable. The walls of the tunnel are made of waterproof concrete coated with a steel shell, each section independently watertight. The tunnel is made to flex and bend in the way that tall buildings are constructed to react if an earthquake hits. Floodgates at

4485-409: The two lines via a tunnel under the Bosporus strait, becoming the first standard gauge rail connection between Europe and Asia (all prior connections ran through Russia and used the incompatible Russian broad gauge ). The two existing sections of the line were rebuilt and expanded from two tracks to three tracks , to allow for higher capacity with intercity and freight rail. The name Marmaray

4554-574: The type of train, amenities offered, and stopping pattern, usually tell the services apart. Russian commuter trains , on the other hand, frequently cover areas larger than Belgium itself, although these are still short distances by Russian standards. They have a different ticketing system from long-distance trains, and in major cities they often operate from a separate section of the train station. Some consider "inter-city" service to be that which operates as an express service between two main city stations, bypassing intermediate stations. However, this term

4623-470: The way inter-city rail does. Regional rail operates outside major cities. Unlike Inter-city, it stops at most or all stations between cities. It provides a service between smaller communities along the line that are often byproducts of ribbon developments , and also connects with long-distance services at interchange stations located at junctions, terminals, or larger towns along the line. Alternative names are "local train" or "stopping train". Examples include

4692-403: The work and it was re-tendered as contract CR3 in early 2011. The replacement contract worth €932.8 million was awarded to a joint venture between OHL and Invensys Rail. In February 2010, Railway Gazette International reported that the tunnel's administrators were hiring consultants to analyse options for carrying freight traffic. The Prime Minister and other officials have suggested that

4761-447: Was chosen ahead of Alstom , CAF , and a consortium of Bombardier , Siemens , and Nurol . There are two depot and maintenance yards on the line (one at each end) where the sets are stocked. The project was delayed by four years, largely due to the discovery of Byzantine -era and other 8,000-year-old archaeological finds on the proposed site of the European tunnel terminal at Yenikapı in 2005. Excavations then produced evidence of

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