Turkey plans to submit an international tender to upgrade the 667 km Divriği-Kars-Georgian border railroad in the course of its attempts to boost yearly freight capacity on the Middle Corridor linking Asia and Europe.
The East Turkey Middle Corridor Railroad Development – ETMic project will entail the rehabilitation of the current line between Divriği, Erzincan, Erzurum, and Kars and the development of an additional track between Kars and the Georgian border.
Interestingly, the tender for the first 3 sections is slated for December 22, 2026, and the Kars-Georgia border segment has already been tendered with funding coming from the Islamic Development Bank.
The project will consist of track refurbishment, electrical conversion, setup of ETCS Level 1 signaling, and CTC and telecommunications. It will take four years to construct.
The project is designed to raise yearly freight capacity on the route from about 750,000 tonnes to 20 million tonnes. It will also involve upgrades to 30 stations and the Kars Logistics Center.
The main infrastructure element of the project is projected to cost around $1.34bn. This is being funded by the Turkish government as well as the World Bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank – AIIB as well as Islamic Development Bank. The World Bank authorized $US660m for the endeavor in December 2024, and the AIIB granted approval for another $US250m.
Fast Expansion
Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, the transport and infrastructure minister, said independently on October 31, 2026, that plans were in hand to broaden Turkey’s high-speed railroad system east from Sivas to Erzincan, Erzurum, and Kars.
He suggested a two-stage approach. First, electrification and also signalling of the present railway, and second, the development of a double-track high-speed line.
But the minister did not reveal the distance, designing speed, projected price, or construction schedule for the envisioned route
