THE INCREASING ROLE OF REGIONAL RAIL SYSTEM IN URBAN TRANSPORT: THE CASE OF IZBAN IN IZMIR A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY CEVAT ÜÇÜNCÜOĞLU IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN CITY PLANNING IN CITY AND REGIONAL PLANNING DECEMBER 2014 i ii Approval of the Thesis THE INCREASING ROLE OF REGIONAL RAIL SYSTEM IN URBAN TRANSPORT: THE CASE OF IZBAN IN IZMIR submitted by CEVAT ÜÇÜNCÜOĞLU in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in City Planning in City and Regional Planning Department, Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Gülbin Dural , ______________ Dean, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences Prof. Dr. Melih Ersoy, ______________ Head of Department, City and Regional Planning Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ela Babalık Sutcliffe ______________ Supervisor, City and Regional Planning Dept., METU Examining Committee Members: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Osman Balaban ______________ City and Regional Planning Dept., METU Assoc. Prof. Dr. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ela Babalık Sutcliffe ______________ City and Regional Planning Dept., METU Prof. Dr. Ali Türel ______________ City and Regional Planning Dept., METU Assist. Prof. Dr. Hediye Tüydeş Yaman ______________ Civil Engineering Dept., METU Turgay Günal ______________ Transport Planner Date: 10.12.2014 iii I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Cevat Üçüncüoğlu Signature: iv ABSTRACT THE INCREASING ROLE OF REGIONAL RAIL SYSTEM IN URBAN TRANSPORT: THE CASE OF IZBAN IN IZMIR Üçüncüoğlu, Cevat MS, City Planning, Department of City and Regional Planning Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ela Babalık Sutcliffe December 2014,154 pages The rapid increase in population and spatial growth of cities result in ever- increasing travel distances for urban transport. While urban rail systems, such as metro and LRT systems, are often considered to provide fast and effective service for metropolitan areas, regional rail systems, as a modernized version of commuter railways, appear to be the most effective way of providing fast services for the mobility needs of such long-distance daily travels in the world. In Turkey too spatial growth is a major challenge for most metropolitan cities as these results in higher distances to be travelled in urban transport. Regional rail systems become indispensable elements of urban transport. Consequently, there have been developments in these cities in Turkey too to invest and modernize existing commuter rail services into modern regional rail systems. Izmir, in particular, has become a leading city in modernizing its commuter railways since it was the first city in Turkey that launched a partnership project between Turkish State Railways agency and the local authority. This research analysed the experience with regards to the partnership project of IZBAN that revealed that the local authorities should have a higher share of the responsibility in running urban transport projects on state railways infrastructure in order to have more successful projects. Keywords: Regional Rail, Commuter Rail, Spatial Growth, Partnership Project Between State and Local Authority, Izmir, IZBAN v ÖZ KENTSEL ULAŞIMDA BÖLGESEL DEMİRYOLU SİSTEMLERİNİN ARTAN ROLÜ: İZMİR IZBAN ÖRNEĞİ Üçüncüoğlu, Cevat Yüksek Lisans, Şehir Planlama, Şehir ve Bölge Planlama Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Ela Babalık Sutcliffe Aralık 2014, 154 sayfa Kentlerin nüfus ve mekansal olarak hızlı büyümesi toplu taşımda seyahat mesafelerinin artması ile sonuçlanır. Metro ve hafif raylı sistemler metropellerde hızlı ve etkili hizmet sunarken, bölgesel trenler (modernize edilmiş banliyö sistemler olarak da kullanılır) uzun mesafelerde günlük en hızlı ve etkili hizmeti sunmaktadır. Türkiye’de çoğu metropollerde mekansal gelişim sonucunda uzun mesafelerde ulaşım ile karşı karşıya kalmıştır. Banliyö sistemler kentsel ulaşımın vazgeçilmez bir unsuru haline gelmiştir. Sonuç olarak, Türkiye’deki bu şehirlerde eski banliyö sistemlere yatırım yapılmış ve bu sistemler modernize edilerek bölgesel trenlere çevrilmiştir. İzmir banliyö sistemlerin modenizasyonu üzerine Türkiye’de TCDD ile yerel yönetim arasında bir ortaklık projesi oluşturan ilk şehirdir. IZBAN üzerine yapılan bu araştırmada devlet demiryolları üzerinde çalıştırılan ve kentsel ulaşıma hizmet eden uygulamalarda daha başarılı projeler oluşturabilmek için yerel yönetimlerin daha geniş yetki ve sorumluluklara sahip olmaları gerektiği ortaya çıkmıştır. Anahtar Kelimeler: Bölgesel Tren, Banliyö Tren, Mekansal Gelişim , Merkezi ve Yerel Yönetim Ortaklık Projesi, İzmir, IZBAN vi Dedicated to The Lord of The Rings “Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky, Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone, Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die, One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie. One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them, One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.” (Tolkien,J.R.R., 1954) vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my appreciation to many people who supported me during the completion of this long thesis process. First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude, love and respect to my thesis supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ela BABALIK SUTCLIFFE for her support from the beginning of my MS. I know that without her guidance I would not have completed this thesis. I also extend my gratitude to my committee members Prof. Dr. Ali TÜREL, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Osman BALABAN, Assist. Prof. Dr. Hediye TÜYDEŞ YAMAN and Turgay GÜNAL for their valuable feedback, contributions and suggestions. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to officers of IZBAN, İzmir Greater Municipality, İzmir Metro Inc. and TCDD for their support and patience during my case study in Izmir. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to my parents; my mother Fatma ÜÇÜNCÜOĞLU, my father Sedat ÜÇÜNCÜOĞLU and my sister Seda ÜÇÜNCÜOĞLU. Their encouragement and support help me to finish this long thesis process. They always do whatever necessary to be successful through my life. The most important thanks and the OSCAR go to Melike YILDIZ. She supported me not only in this thesis but also every corner in my life. She became the exact person in every condition that I need. This thesis is a milestone in my academic career and so she is in my life. I also would like to thank to my friend and also the biggest doctor of all time Ahmet Emin DOĞAN. I would like to thank to the best designer Erkan KERTİ, to the tough guy Muhammed ÖZTÜRK, the most positive human being Murat DOĞAN and my cousin Kaan CANDEMİR that helped me in the field trip in İzmir. viii I would like to thank to their help in the thesis to Mahmut CAMALAN who is such a thoughtful friend, Hülya YORULMAZ who helped me despite being in an intense work load and Ali ÇAĞAN for the moral support. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM…………………………………………………………………….....iv ABSTRACT………………………………………..…………………...……….……v ÖZ………………………………………………………………………………..…..vi DEDICATION………………………………………………………………..…….vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………..viii TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………………..…..x LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………………xiii LIST OF FIGURES……………………………………………………...…………xiv LIST OF GRAPHICS………………………………………...………………....….xvi LIST OF MAPS……..…………………………………………..…..……………..xvii CHAPTERS 1.INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 2.COMMUTER RAIL SYSTEMS AND THEIR INCREASING ROLE IN URBAN TRANSPORT ............................................................................................................... 7 2.1. Public Transport: Definition and types .......................................................... 7 2.2. Urban Rail Modes ........................................................................................ 11 2.2.1. Streetcars/Tramways ............................................................................ 11 2.2.2. Light Rail Transit System .................................................................... 12 2.2.3. Rapid Rail Transit System.................................................................... 13 2.2.4. Regional Rail Transit System ............................................................... 14 2.3. Regional Rail ............................................................................................... 16 2.3.1. Regional Rail Operation ....................................................................... 19 2.3.2. Station Spacing ..................................................................................... 19 2.3.3. Operating Schedules ............................................................................. 20 2.3.4. Routes ................................................................................................... 20 2.3.5. Purpose and Quality of Service ............................................................ 21 2.3.6. Reasons to Support Commuter/Regional Rail ..................................... 21 2.3.7. Reasons to Exercise Caution ................................................................ 22 2.3.8. Components of Regional Rail Systems ...............................................