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The Ayaş Tunnel ((トルコ語:Ayaş Tüneli)) is a railway tunnel under construction near Ayaş town of Ankara Province in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It was initially projected to shorten the railway line connecting Ankara with Istanbul. ==Background== The construction of Ayaş Tunnel was planned in 1943 as part of a high-speed rail service project. The -long tunnel would enable to shorten the distance of between Istanbul and Ankara about to . The travel time would reduce from seven-and-half hours to two-and-half hours.〔〔 After 33-years of suspension, the project came into force in 1976 when groundbreaking took place in presence of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel on the western entrance at Ayaş side of the mountain. The next year in 1977, Deputy Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan initiated the digging work at the tunnel's opposite entrance in the east near Erkeksu village. At that time, it was announced that the construction of the -long tunnel would be completed in seven years.〔〔 During the time after the 1980 military coup, the construction works at the tunnel did not progress as expected although it was taken several times in consideration by the government. Prime Minister Turgut Özal, who came into power following the 1983 general election, was a pro-highway and an anti-railway politician. So, he stopped the building of the railway tunnel for a long time. In the meantime, the construction of the Istanbul–Ankara motorway began. After completion of the motorway, discussions flamed about the railway systems that led to the remembrance of the Ayaş Tunnel. In 1987, it was decided to update the studies of the Ayaş Tunnel Project.〔 Bidding consortiums from France, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom and Belgium submitted tenders proposing project's realization by financing through foreign loan instead of unattractive build-operate-transfer method. The tunnel project resumed when Süleyman Demirel became prime minister again in 1991. The construction works accelerated with government's funding, however these efforts did not suffice to complete the -long tunnel. The tunnel could be bored in a length of until the Justice and Development Party (AKP) took over the government following the 2002 general election.〔〔 At that time, the total expenditures amounted to 701 million.〔 The Minister of Transport, Maritime and Communication Binali Yıldırım stopped the high-speed rail project of Istanbul-Ankara and hence the Ayaş Tunnel construction. The entrance to the tunnel was closed, and ashes were dumped in pile in front of the tunnel's both entrances.〔 For the water management of the groundwater that seeped into the tunnel, 200–300 thousand had to be spent annually. The total cost for the tunnel's maintenance amounted to 2.9 million between 2001 and 2012.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ayaş Tunnel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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