The World Bank explains that its loan will help to pay for the construction of a 127-kilometer, electrified, high-capacity rail line across the Bosphorus strait. INRAIL will also bypass the Istanbul metropolitan area, significantly improving capacity along the route.

A transformative project for Türkiye

INRAIL will be a highly impactful project for transport and the broader economy of the area, says the World Bank. “This project is a strategic and transformative investment for Turkey. By eliminating the critical railway bottleneck in the Bosphorus strait, it will enhance the resilience and efficiency of railway infrastructure, increasing Turkey’s competitiveness and strengthening its role as a logistics hub”, the Bank quotes its Türkiye Country Director, J. Humberto Lopez, as saying.

“Indeed, the project will accelerate growth, create jobs, and contribute to more sustainable transportation. Furthermore, INRAIL will benefit the wider region by enabling the transport of goods between Europe and Central Asia, connecting to other international corridors such as the Middle Corridor and the Development Route, which provides traffic between Europe and the Gulf via Iraq. In fact, this is much more than just building a bridge; it’s about connecting continents.”

In total, rail freight capacity across the Bosphorus should grow from 3 million tonnes annually to 50 million tonnes.

However, the key upgrade provided by the 125-kilometre long INRAIL line is its massive capacity boost. Rail freight operations across the Bosphorus now take place during limited nighttime hours through the Marmaray tunnel. This facilitated a total of just 1.7 million tonnes of cross-Bosphorus rail freight between 2020 and October 2025, Reuters reports on the basis of official Turkish data.

By contrast, the Northern Ring Railway project should allow for 33 million passengers annually and 30 million tonnes of freight. This should also make Türkiye a more attractive option on the Middle Corridor as well, Ankara hopes.

Fast freight across many bridges and tunnels

INRAIL was valued at 8.1 billion dollars in 2025. It features 22 kilometres of bridges and viaducts and around 60 kilometres of tunnels. The maximum speed for freight trains is planned to be 120 kilometres per hour.

Preliminary funding deals were reached with the World Bank, Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Islamic Development Bank, OPEC Fund for International Development and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.

Türkiye hopes to complete tenders this year and start construction soon.

“With improved rail capacity at both ends of the Middle Corridor, the Bosphorus crossing in Istanbul is the next major bottleneck”, the report explains. “Currently, rail traffic can only pass through the Marmaray tunnel, while freight trains are restricted to a limited nighttime slot, severely restricting capacity and maintenance time. These limitations impact both operational capacity and long-term sustainability.”

“The only alternative to the Marmaray tunnel for freight transport is an inefficient and costly rail-truck transfer across the Bosphorus, reducing Istanbul’s logistics efficiency and making the Middle Corridor’s Turkey route less competitive than the Black Sea alternative”, the report concludes.

Air-to-rail freight

Ankara hopes to change that with the INRAIL project. It will be a costly railway, valued at 8,1 billion US dollars. With a total length of nearly 100 kilometres, it features 22 kilometres of bridges and viaducts and around 60 kilometres of tunnels. The maximum speed for freight trains is planned to be 120 kilometres per hour. INRAIL will link up to Istanbul’s two major airports: Istanbul Airport and Sabiha Gökçen Airport, which will allow for air-to-rail freight transfers.

The Turkish transport minister stated that the country hopes to launch tenders for the projects before the end of 2025. The project should be completed by 2030.

InRail is not the only company that is experiencing disruptions due to the flooding in Slovenia. Metrans pointed out that the connections from Slovenia to Croatia and Austria are partly suspended. Departures have also been cancelled from the port of Koper, Dunajská Streda, and Budapest. The company claimed that “currently, the only usable rail connection is through Jesenice”, the border crossing between Slovenia and Austria. However, Metrans underlined that this line is already congested.

RailFreight.com is closely monitoring the developments to provide more detailed and insightful reports.

Video: © InRail

Also read:

• Record and deadly floods in China leave Silk Road trains untouched
• Freight trains back on track after floods in Italy
• Floods in Italy: what is the impact on rail freight?

InRail’s courses keep their workforce young

Every year, InRail trains around 100 people. “Each class is composed of roughly 20 students, and we have five or six classes every year”, he specified. The effectiveness of this initiative can be seen in the average age of InRail’s workforce: 35 years old. On the other hand, more than 50 per cent of Italian rail workers were over 50 years old already in 2016. One of the main issues in the country is that many rail workers will retire over the next few years but are not being replaced at the same pace.

Their certifications are recognised by the Italian Agency for Safety on Rail, Road, and Motorway Infrastructure (ANSFISA). Other than its independent course, InRail also collaborates with SerForm, a training centre based in Switzerland, that is recognised by ANSFISA. Moreover, the company offers programmes also in the so-called Superior Techinical Institutes (ITS), schools with specialisation courses to be attended after high school.

‘Training rail workers is basically charity work for a company’

As Porta pointed out, training rail workers is a long and expensive process that involves a relatively small number of people, especially when compared to truck drivers. Training truck drivers mainly includes getting a drivers licence, which in Italy costs a little over 1,000 euros and companies may be more eager to pay for it. Personnel training for the rail freight sector, on the other hand, is quite the long and expensive process, taking over one year. These costs oscillate between 500,000 and one million euros per year, making them the fourth largest expense for InRail, after salaries, rolling stock management, and infrastructure costs.

Many of the people trained by InRail, moreover, end up on the market and not employed at the company, especially with the programmes at SerForm and ITS. “For the internal InRail programme this happens less because we tailor it according to the company’s needs”, Porta said. For example, InRail trained seven or eight employees who were only working ‘on land’ (inspections, shunting operations, etc…) to become train drivers. “This gives an opportunity to grow to our workforce which thus become more loyal”. This, as Porta mentioned, leads to an impact on the company’s wallet because these employees get paid while they are being trained.

Another significant expense for InRail concerns the instructors, who are often employees with great experience. InRail has nine instructors and eight more for SerForm programme. “Becoming an instructor is sort of the last step in one’s career in this sector, therefore their costs is higher than an average teacher salary”, Porta explained. Moreover, they can often be the ones carrying out the exams as well, leading the costs to increase further. However, Porta embraces this project and hopes that more companies will follow suit to help rejuvenate the rail workforce in Italy and solve the labour shortage in the country.

How to become the only company to operate in Italy, Croatia, and Slovenia?

InRail is also the only Italian company that carries out services in Italy, Slovenia, and Croatia. The adventure of InRail in Slovenia and Croatia started because the company was already operating two services there, via state-owned rail freight companies. With established branches in these countries, these collaborations are no longer necessary. Moreover, the company can count on their own fleet of locomotives. The branch in Slovenia was opened in Nova Gorica in 2014, with regular services being launched in 2019. Now, InRail does not need to rely on Slovenian Railways to move the train up to the Italian border.

“InRail Slovenia now operates most trains that InRail picks up at the Italian border with Slovenia with our own machinists and locomotives,” Porta claimed. After this was consolidated, Croatia became the next step, as he stated. InRail now also has a facility in Zagreb, the Croatian capital. This one is smaller than its Slovenian counterpart, and the services offered by Inrail are not regular ones yet. As he explained, entering the Croatian market was not easy mostly because companies in Eastern Europe tend to be more conservative and don’t always share services with outsiders.

Other than Slovenia and Croatia, InRail’s expansion is not only advantageous for services in Croatia and Slovenia. In October, the company recently launched a new service connecting the port of Genoa with Tiszaujvaros, in northeast Hungary, for the transportation of carbon black. Thanks to the new entities in Slovenia and Croatia, InRail can operate this service from the Ligurian port up to the Hungarian border.

Also read:

• ‘State support for rail freight personnel training is crucial in Italy’
• Italian rail freight associations urge minister to unlock subsidies
• Energy prices main concern in Italy, but there are other risks looming

A service in collaboration with Ferest Rail

As the spokesperson pointed out, the train will leave the port of Genoa from the Silomar terminal and cross through to Slovenia via Villa Opicina, near Trieste. From there, the train will reach the border with Hungaria in Hodos, near the Orsegi Nemzeti Park to finally arrive in Tiszaujvaros.

Thanks to its Slovenian branch, InRail is able to take care of the service on both Italian and Slovenian grounds. “Currently InRail is the only private Italia rail company that can autonomously operate in Slovenia as well, with its own Safety Certificate and specific organisation,” claimed the spokesperson. Once it reaches Hungary, the train will be operated by Ferest Rail, a rail freight company based in Udine, in northeastern Italy.

RailFreight On Tour-The Hungarian Edition

The topic will also be discussed at the RailFreight On Tour-The Hungarian Edition, to be held on 19 & 20 October in Debrecen. Rail freight professionals will have the chance to visit Hungary and see the developments taking place there first-hand, while also networking and connecting with local and international players active in the country. You can find more information about this event here.

Also read:

• Hungary will build a new rail terminal…at the port of Trieste
• Hungarian railway companies turn to diesel in despair of electricity price
• The rail freight potential of Hungary: join the free webinar today!

Subsequently, it changed direction towards the north-eastern part of France until it reached Creutzwald, which lies in the French-German border and is also very close to Luxemburg. The train’s total transit time was 60 hours, and it reached its final destination on 1 July.

A company milestone

InRail is a railway company founded in 2009. It transports goods like raw materials, ferrous scrap, steel products, chemicals, cereals, timber, and dangerous goods. It is active in Italy and Slovenia, and most of its services concern domestic routes in Italy.

Understandably, the company’s involvement in an international rail freight service is a significant benchmark for its course so far. “We are delighted with the result achieved with this train, which we ran completely with our own locomotives, tracks and staff and which crossed the whole of Slovenia and Italy. With more than 2,000 km travelled, this is the longest distance InRail has ever managed,” commented commercial director Lucio Gentile.