The European Union will grant Turkey 275 million euros ($311 million) to fund part of a 155-kilometre railway line from Istanbul to the Bulgarian border under an agreement signed on Tuesday.
The 1.1 billion Halkali-Kapikule project is the fourth major railway to be partly financed by the EU, which has so far provided around 840 million euros in grants for Turkish railways in the past eight years, Reuters told.
Tuesday’s agreement will help fund the construction of almost half of the Halkali-Kapikule line with the remainder to be financed by Turkey’s State Railway (TCDD).
Christian Berger, the head of the EU delegation to Turkey, said the project would facilitate freight transportation between Asia and Europe.