One of the two new rail ferries to run on Van Lake had a trial sail today. The ferries are ordered to solve the capacity bottleneck of trains at Van Lake pass. These ferries have bigger capacity and faster. The trail is completed succesfully.
The contractor of ferries is Nursoy. This first ferry had put on water at the beginning of this year and furnishing works started.
New rail ferries are 135 mt long. They can take up to 50 wagons and can carry 4500 to. They can also carry 350 passengers at the same time. There are 4 lines in each ferry, which can take 20 wagons of Habis, Gabs, Sgs or Rilns, or 35 wagons of Gbs, Hbbillnss, Ks, Ea or Zaes, or 50 wagons of E or Fas. Ferries have a max speed of 14 knot, and can complete the trip between Van and Tatvan ports in 3.5 hours.
The contractor Nursoy is also constructing the ferry ports. The construction area will be used for maintanance and repairs in the future.
Van Lake pass is on the route of rail connection from Turkey to Iran and Central Asia. The four ferries running on lake are very old, break down very frequently and have a very limited capacity (upto 14 wagons). Usually only 2-3 ferries are available at one time, and this causes long waiting and delays in eastbound traffic.
The New Van Lake Ferry to Start Soon by Erkan Ozkan
Bottleneck for Eastward Trains: Van Lake by Erkan Ozkan
Image: New Van Lake Ferry by Nursoy ©
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