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BusinessReport 1/2011 1

already been submerged. Tis is not without itsrisks, as Istanbul is only 20 kilometres away romthe North Anatolian aultline. For this reason, thetunnel has been designed to withstand an earth-quake measuring 7.5 on the Richter Scale, explainsthe Chie Project Manager, Hüseyin Belkaya: »I an

earthquake happens in Istanbul, the tunnel will bethe saest place to be.« o make doubly sure, someseismic measuring stations are being installed in-side the tunnel itsel to aler t the authorities or hos-pitals to any imminent earthquake. Tis would al-low the gas pipelines to be shut down in time. Te-re is no risk o any inrush o water, says Belkaya.Te worst that could happen would be »that therailway tracks buckle a bit.« You see, this tunnelwil l only be used by trains, or the idea is that com-muters will leave their cars at home.

Back in 1860, the Sultan o the Ottoman Empire at

that time, Abdülmecid, wanted to have a tunnel builtin the same place as this one. Sultan Abdülhamid IIrevived the plan in 1902 – beore abandoning it again.Apart rom passenger transport, reight trains willalso roll beneath the Bosporus by night. I a reshould occur down there, thermal energy o up to 100megawatts could be generated. o ensure the concre-te does not crack in such an event, researchers at theIstanbul echnical University worked with chemicalgiant BASF to develop a special building compound.I a passenger train should catch re, there will beescape routes every 200 metres in the drilling tunnel

and every 100 metres in the submerged tunnel.But the challenges are not just o a technical nature.

Tree years ago the AMD consortium, comprisingthe French company Alstom, the Japanese Group Marubeni and the urkish construction company Dogan won the tender or the project. Te job inclu-ded laying, renewing and expanding the rail networkalong with 37 above-ground and three undergroundstations, as well as the computer-controlled signalsystems. Alstom planned to bring its transport expe-rience to bear on the project, while Marubeni woulddevelop the rail network. But in 2007 the consortium

ell apart, when a Byzantium harbour was discoverednear Üsküdar and old graves were uncovered on theEuropean side near Yenikapi. In order to secure thesearchaeological treasures, construction work was sus-pended until 35 wooden boats rom the 7th and 10thcenturies, and skeletons thought to be about 8,000years old could be saely removed rom the site. Tends extended Istanbul’s settlement history by about6,000 years, but apparently also led to a cost blow-outo more than EUR 500 million and a delay o ve ye-

ars. AMD retreated. Hüseyin Baykal is critical o thebehaviour o AMD: »Tey had been there or aboutthree years, but hadn’t built anything and obviously didn’t want to either«.

In May 2011, a new tender will be awarded so thata new consortium can pick up the work again in July.

Peter Hettich rom Kalsruhe is simply continuingworking there until then. He is responsible or thedesign and planning o the electromechanical sys-tems. »Somehow the work has to go ahead, or we willlose even more time, and I am o the opinion that wecan now meet the deadline« says a condent Hettich.

Te TGN consortium, made up o theJapanese construction company Taisei and urkish companies GAMA and Nu-rol , is responsible or the dril ling tunnel.In the urkish city o Sakar ya, the SouthKorean rm Hyundai Rotem is making

440 rail vehicles. Te 135-metre-longsubmerged elements o the tunnel wereproduced at a dry dock near Ismit, sub-merged by a computer control system toa depth o 58 metres in Bosporus and welded underwater. As the Bosporus is one o the busiest water-ways o the world, construction work o this kind isnot without its dangers. Constant erry trafc is alsoan obstacle to the »Ecem Sultan«, the special shiptransporting and submerging the tunnel parts. Inaddition, there are opposing cross-currents in theBosporus Strait that make submerging the compo-

nents more difcult.Dril ling on the mainland, however, led to dama-

ge to buildings above the tunnel. So ar, aisei hashad to pay USD 330,000 by way o compensation.Construction o the tunnel – initially budgeted tocost EUR 3 billion and wind up in 2009 – is beco-ming more and more expensive and taking longerand longer to complete. Now the Japan Bank orInternational Cooperation and European Invest-ment Bank, who are putting up the capital or it,estimate it wil l cost more than EUR 4 billion and beready in three years at the earliest. But that price is

probably not too high it means atal trafc conges-tion can be averted . Up to 150,000 people per hourcould commute between Asia and Europe thanksto the Marmaray Project. Another mammoth andlong-amous building project in the metropolis o Istanbul oers a glimmer o hope. Sceptics alsoshook their heads over building plans or the HagiaSophia dome – until the church was nally consec-rated on Christmas Eve in the year 562 ollowing a30-year construction period.

»If there is anearthquake, downhere will be thesafe place to be!«

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