ISTANBUL, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Türkiye celebrated the inauguration of a new high-speed train line on Saturday, linking Istanbul to the central Anatolian city of Sivas, according to the state-run Anadolu agency.

The Istanbul-Sivas line will take seven hours and 18 minutes, serviced by trains accommodating up to 483 passengers, added the report.

Speaking at the ceremony in Istanbul, Osman Boyraz, deputy minister of transport and infrastructure, emphasized Türkiye's strategic importance in international freight and passenger transportation.

According to Boyraz, Türkiye invested 57 billion U.S. dollars in building and renewing its railways over the last 22 years, increased the line length from 10,948 km to 13,919 km, and built 2,251 km of high-speed train lines.

The line between the capital city of Ankara and Eskisehir was the country's first high-speed rail that went into operation in 2009, and the line was successfully extended to Istanbul in 2014 with a total length of 533 kilometers.

China Railway Construction Corporation and China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation, in partnership with two Turkish companies, built parts of the Ankara-Istanbul line.

According to Boyraz, high-speed trains have facilitated the transportation of 85 million passengers since 2009. Enditem

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