GAZIANTEP | tram

[Ashis Mitra]

Opening of new tramway system in small Turkish cities continues. After Konya, Eskisehir, Antalya, Kayseri & Samsun, another city joins in this list – Gaziantep.

Unlike Eskisehirm Kayseri & Samsun, Gaziantep uses 2nd hand German tramcars as rolling stock, like Konya & Antalya.

Gaziantep’s tram runs only in 1 route, but it has many modern specifications like any modern tram network. Although the rolling stock is second hand, but due to high maintenance, it shines, and looks like a modern network.

The map


& photo.


POST AS MANY AS PHOTOS OF GAZIANTEP TRAM HERE.

Thanks to Turkey for new tramways.

[Ashis Mitra]

I couldn’t find any official website. Is there any such about tram?

[Ashis Mitra]

Is there any plan to expand the tram network? If yes please write details with a complete map.

[Ashis Mitra]

Why Gaziantep chose 2nd hand stocks from Germany like Konya & Antalya? Is it a poor town?

[Edil Arda]

Its the Turkish section for this trams: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...1013011&page=3

3rd phase is going to be contracted on 9th of January.


I think the stocks are so nice and a friend from Turkish forum used them few weeks ago and he says they look like new.
They are cheap and useful after renovation.



I couldn't find a proper map.

[Messi]

Originally Posted by Ashis Mitra

Why Gaziantep chose 2nd hand stocks from Germany like Konya & Antalya? Is it a poor town?

Antalya has chosen Spanish CAF's for its LRT system. They use old German stock for the touristic tram to give it a "historic" look. It's more a touristic short line along the coast.

These are the new CAF's.



Regarding Konya, the city has built its tramway line in the 80's. Those days I can imagine that the city was too poor to purchase new rolling stock. Konya has purchased 60 new trams by Skoda.


Gaziantep has a different policy. They use second hand stock but therefore they expand their network very fast. They have begun already with the third phase of the project.

[Ashis Mitra]

Really? Then please inform the current extended routes. Also try to post a complete map with future routes.

Please try to answer these -
1) Reserved or unreserved, - which type of track layout is common in Gaziantep tramway network?
2) Which is the busiest tram terminus?
3) Where is/are the depot(s) of the tramway network?
4) Is the green trackbed real grass? Or velvet paper, I think later.

[Baron Hirsch]

Please, we all live in Istanbul, almost as far from Antep as you. I have seen and used the Antep tram only once. The only one I can easily answer is the gras question. Yes, it is fake. See the pictures at http://www.drehscheibe-foren.de/fore...90#msg-5328890

[rheintram]

I also thought it might be fake grass when I saw the video. Now that it was confirmed I am really disappointed. Why on earth would anyone do that? Where's the point in that?

[intelligentBG]

very disappointing indeed....

[Ashis Mitra]

Really, such fakeness is a lot of shame.

However, the buffer is most modern, we can't imagine it in Kolkata.

[iği]

Well,I'm from Gaziantep and I gonna try to answer the question as far as I can and pardon my English.Thanks for the thread!

First of all,the city of Gaziantep reached 1,5million urban population this year and the city has one of the highest population growth rate in Turkey.Tram lines are completely funded by the local municipality,no funding received from central government,so city tried to keep it cheap in order to expand the tram lines in other parts of the city in short period of time.It seems the plan worked very well,the tram lines cost less then half of it's normal price.It's not exactly about poorness,let's say Gaziantep city is a bit peculiar about bargain stuff.The city known by it's entrepreneur characteristics,most of industry and commerce of the city established by the locals without that much external help.City has dynamic industrial zones with growing export amount.Well,

And you may want to update your first post,since second line is now operational.New line connects the University and newly developed Karataş neighboorhood which is kinda distant from the city and contains a lot of population.

Map of new lane(blue):



Here is the answers:

1-)There's two tram lines are operational and intersects right in front of the gate of the university.Second line is more like the extention of the first line since there's only one more tram stop available if tram doesn't turn to the second line and go straight.They intersect on the stop named 'Gaziantep Üniversitesi' (Gaziantep University).

Tram at the university stop,on the newly constructed underpass.


2-)After opening of the second line I can say 'Karataş' stop and '25 Aralık' stop has a lot of crowd.There's a big shopping mall,hospitals,parks on the '25 Aralık' stop,crowd in the 'Karataş' is mostly by commuters who want to go to the city center from their distant neighborhood and University students commuting between university and their homes.'University' stop is indeed crowded too,the intersection point of the two lanes.

Picture of tram moving to university side and coming from the 'Karataş' neighbourhood which is newly developing site with rapid population increase.


3-)Here's the depots:
http://maps.google.com/?ll=37.045647...05284&t=h&z=18
Picture from depot:


4-)It's fake grass that looks like as being used in the football fields with fake grass.It has got a grassy texture,no plain paper.Nonetheless me either concerned about it's appearance,they could have simply tile stones instead,making it 'real grass' wouldn't be a good option.It will rapidly increase the consumption of water,and water sources mostly held by the dams around the city and it's precious in the summers because of semi-arid climate.


I can say that the plan of the municipality looks like worked very well.Tram system of Gaziantep can be a perfect example for the other developing countries with tight budget.Renovated trams are no different then a brand new one,no average person would figure out they're renovated from old tram sets if they're not getting informed about that.

3rd step is in-preparation stage right now.It will connect the most wealthy neighborhoods of the city with tram system.The construction planned to start within a few months.There will be 6-7 line in total with over 100km. of tram line.
Also there's a LRT (GaziRay) being planned on the existing railroad passing along the city,connecting the two large industrial district of the city.This planned system will be funded by the government(hopefully).

@Arda,this video is rather old,tram lane is now completely covered by 'fake grass'.

[JustinB]

I do not see what the issue is with using AstroTurf instead of grass. It still looks nice, and is easier to maintain than grass, considering the climate.

[iği]

It's generally about the costs for sure.Stone tiling would be more time consuming and expensive considering workforce needed for the proccess. And they simply could've leave it naked concrete,no need to push the budget limits that much though.And yeah,real grass maintenance would be expensive either,that AstroTurf(good to know how people call it) is a realistic one,the ones you can see on the small-scale football fields.Would it be better if they simply spill a layer of gravel instead?

[intelligentBG]

Thank you Igi, perfect report for the city tram. Could you provide some map for the stage 3 of the extension…
Obviously local authorities are very effective. Good luck Antep!

[iği]

Thanks man,it's a pleasure for me.

About 3rd stage,it's not really clear but we have some predictions about that.3rd stage will be integrate tram line to the one of the most wealthiest neighborhoods in the city,called İbrahimli district.Contact will be signed at 9th January.There will be 12 more tram sets because of extentions of the lines.

Biggest rumor is the tram line won't go straight by passing though next to the Metro Supermarket.Instead it will go trough some other adjacent street.It's clearly more clever move,since more people can reach the tram in that way,in the other hand it won't be passing though the supermarket which works like local store of the wealthy neighborhoods with over average car owner per household.The point is connection in-between three important places.1-)City center[social recreation areas and business district] 2-)Distant Karataş neighborhood[with enormous population growth] 3-)The University.

Here is predicted route,as you can see 3rd stage marked with bold black line.

BUT,there's something wrong with that map.The tram line won't be go straight as depicted in the map.If you can see the triangular shape at the right side of the starting point of the 3rd stage,there's another road that is only unmarked corner of the triangle.Next route will be pass from that route(as we heard from the mayor).

Horizontal line:Existing 1st stage of tram. Vertical line:3rd stage.


3rd stage ends around somewhere where city is limited by the freeway,and military zone.
Also you can see some other planned stages in the first map.But they're very unclear right now.

[iği]

Hello people. 3th stage tram route is now offical. Here is the route:

Red color is 3th stage ,will start construction in March.
Black one is existing tram line.

At the end of the 3th stage(red colored) tram line is going to be connected with GaziRay banlieue system which is in the planning stage.So it will create a ring in-between the train station and end of the 3th stage.Of course it's not primary intention of the GaziRay system.It will connect Industrial zones to city.
Picture of Gaziantep Tram,starting of the first stage 'train station(gar)':