Politecnico di Milano
Scuola di Architettura e Società
Laurea Magistrale in Architettura / Master of Science in Architecture
Thesis Title:
CypRail: Revitalisation and Retransmission of the
Cyprus Railways
Laureando/Student: ZIYA BULUCH | 764917 Relatore/Supervisor:
Luca Maria Francesco Fabris
2 Abstract
Analogous to the human brain, architecture and urbanism are in need of recalling and reconsidering tracing memories some times. The case of revisiting past episodes particularly occurs when the status of a given system has deteriorated to such an extent that no efficiency is being expected and that no modern necessities are being provided. In order to implement sustainable solutions to these challenges, any deficiencies in the construction of pre-existing work have to be remedied using modifications and transformations.
The objective of this Master’s Thesis is to propose a new sustainable public transportation system in Cyprus, where there is only minimal public transport available, through the rethinking of earlier concepts and methodologies of work in the context of architecture and urban planning. To fulfil this aim, various studies and analyses on the revitalization and retransmission of the Cyprus Government Railways (CGR), a memorial railway network that existed from 1905 to 1951, were conducted.
The first analysis involved identification of the creation strategies, the structural character, and the environmental and social impacts of the CGR. Next, the socio-economic and environmental impacts of the current road transportation system on the island of Cyprus and a present-day study of public transportation in North Cyprus were analysed. These analyses showed that the CGR, in the very particular circumstances of its time, had been a very successful example of public transportation in terms of environmental and social indicators. They also showed that it was entirely due to financial reasons caused by global forces, such as industrialisation and World Wars I and II that the CGR had been closed down. Another key finding was that today’s road transportation is threatening the environment and the lives of people as Cyprus continues to develop.
Taking into consideration all these data, a new idea for public transportation, which emphasizes the role of nature and humans in the shift towards a sustainable geography
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and a sustainable economy, was embodied. This idea was named CypRail and was specifically developed so as to work well in the case of a reunited Cyprus.
4 Riassunto
Come avviene con i ragionamenti, l’architettura e l’urbanistica hanno a volte bisogno di ricordare e ripensare i progetti del passato. La necessità di rivisitare episodi passati nasce in particolare quando lo stato di un dato sistema è deteriorato al punto che non è più efficiente e necessita di modernizzazione e, per attuare soluzioni sostenibili, le eventuali carenze dell’esistente devono essere risolte con modifiche e trasformazioni.
L'obiettivo di questa tesi magistrale è proporre un nuovo sistema sostenibile di mobilità pubblica a Cipro, dove esiste solo un livello minimo di trasporto pubblico, attraverso il ripensamento di progetti e di strategie strutturali precedenti nell’ambito dell’architettura e in quello della pianificazione. Per raggiungere questo scopo, sono stati condotti vari studi e analisi sul rilancio e la riattivazione delle Ferrovie del governo cipriota (CGR), una rete ferroviaria storica in attività dal 1905 al 1951.
La prima analisi ha coinvolto l’identificazione delle strategie di progetto, il carattere strutturale e gli impatti ambientali e sociali della CGR. Successivamente, sono stati analizzati gli impatti socio-economici e ambientali sull'isola di Cipro del sistema di trasporto su gomma e l’attuale trasporto pubblico a Cipro Nord. Queste analisi hanno mostrato che la CGR, nelle circostanze molto particolari del suo tempo, era stata un esempio di grande successo di trasporto pubblico, in termini di indicatori ambientali e sociali. Essi hanno inoltre dimostrato che la chiusura della GCR era stata causata da motivi finanziari derivanti da forze globali, come l’industrializzazione e la I e II Guerra Mondiale. Un altro studio, in fase di sviluppo, documenta quanto l’attuale trasporto su strada stia minacciando l'ambiente e la vita delle persone a Cipro.
Prendendo in considerazione tutti questi dati, è stata sviluppata una nuova idea di trasporto pubblico su ferro, che sottolinea il ruolo della natura e degli esseri umani nel passaggio verso una geografia ed un'economia sostenibile. Questa idea è stata nominata CypRail ed è stata specificamente sviluppata in modo essere pronta per una Cipro riunificata.
5 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ... 7 List of Tables ... 8 List of Figures... 8 List of Drawings ... 9 Abbreviations ... 10 1 INTRODUCTION ... 11
2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF CYPRUS RAILWAYS ... 15
2.1 Determination of the railway route and expectations ... 19
2.2 Characteristics of the built route ... 20
2.3 Impacts of the Cyprus Government Railways ... 25
2.4 Justifications for extermination of the railway ... 28
3 CURRENT URBAN TRANSPORTATION CHARACTERISTICS OF NORTHERN CYPRUS . 30 3.1 Peculiarities vs. contradictions ... 31
3.2 Impacts of the existing urban transportation ... 33
3.2.1 Social impacts ... 34
3.2.2 Economical impacts ... 39
3.2.3 Environmental impacts within a case study ... 40
3.2.3.1 Motorcars’ Footprints of northern Nicosia ... 41
3.2.4 Landscape and visual effects... 57
3.3 New transportation development studies ... 59
4 CONFIGURATION OF A RAILWAY NETWORK IN CYPRUS ... 61
4.1 Retransmission of the pre-existing railway ... 62
4.1.1 Developing new route(s) ... 62
4.1.2 Infrastructure (mode of movement, type of vehicle, energy source) ... 68
4.2 Impacts of new transportation ... 69
4.2.1 Social impacts ... 69
4.2.2 Economical impacts ... 70
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4.2.4 Landscape and visual effects... 73
4.3 Proposal of the Nicosia Central Station ... 73
5 CONCLUSION ... 76
REFERENCES... 79
7 Acknowledgements
This Master’s Thesis is based on two years of research and study at the Politecnico di Milano and an extreme hope and longing of a sustainable transportation development in Cyprus. My time at the Politecnico di Milano was truly incredible. Of course, I have to thank several people who, in some way, contributed to this Thesis.
First of all, I am extremely grateful to Luca Maria Francesco Fabris, arch. PhD, for the supervision that supervisors do not normally have time for! He was always kind and helpful towards me, even when I was exhausted, difficult, or pessimistic. In addition, he provided some very useful feedback to improve the quality of this document.
Next, special thanks are due to my dearest friends Dr Kerem Terali, Mrs Gizem Culluoglu, Ms Ozlem Savoglu and Mr Ümit Demirci. I am very grateful to them for their assistance in different matters during different periods of those two years.
Last but not least, I owe a lot to my family, especially to my sister Melis and my mother Ferdiye, for the ultimate support and encouragement they have given me since I started my Master’s degree programme.
8 List of Tables
Table 2-1 Summary of the railway schemes ... 18
Table 2-2 List of the locomotives of the CGR inventory ... 24
Table 3-1 Student and staff populations in six Cyprus universities and the number of motor vehicles per university ... 38
Table 3-2 Population of Northern Cyprus ... 43
Table 3-3 Nicosia’s building construction and parcel statistics as of 14th February 2012 ...46
Table 3-4 Annual carbon dioxide emission only by motorcars in Nicosia urban area ....55
Table 4-1 Summary of the CypRail routes ... 66
List of Figures Figure 2-1 Earlier plans for a proposed railway network in Cyprus, shown on today’s political map of Cyprus ... 17
Figure 2-2 Famagusta Harbour in May 1906 by Crown Agents ... 21
Figure 2-3 CGR locomotive No.1 on exhibition in Famagusta ... 22
Figure 2-4 CGR Famagusta Central Station, serving a different function today ... 22
Figure 2-5 Pre-existing railway route in Nicosia at 35.185386,33.369397 ... 27
Figure 3-1 Map of Northern Cyprus in the year 1996, showing the local government boundaries and the 1/5,000 scaled cadastral map division of the plots ... 42
Figure 3-2 Meteorological stations around Northern Cyprus ... 44
Figure 3-3 Annual average air temperature distribution in the TRNC ... 44
Figure 3-4 Lowest annual average air temperature distribution in the TRNC ... 44
Figure 3-5 Highest annual average air temperature distribution in the TRNC ... 45
Figure 3-6 Annual average relative humidity distribution in the TRNC ... ....45
Figure 3-7 Parcel plan of Northern Nicosia's urban texture ...49
Figure 3-8 Google satellite image of Northern Nicosia ...50
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Figure 4-1 Map of CypRail ...67 Figure 4-2 Longitudinal section of the Nicosia Central Station, showing the interaction of
masses, train platforms and the courtyard with climatic conditions...74
List of Drawings
Drawing 01 Masterplan of the CypRail Network
Drawing 02 The Concept | Transformation of the Nicosia Central Station Mass Drawing 03 Masterplan of the Nicosia Central Station
Drawing 04 -4 and -3 Basement Plans of the Nicosia Central Station Drawing 05 -2 and -1 Basement Plans of the Nicosia Central Station Drawing 06 Ground and First Floor Plans of the Nicosia Central Station Drawing 07 Second Floor and Roof Plans of the Nicosia Central Station Drawing 08 Sections and Elevations of the Nicosia Central Station Drawing 09 Passengers’ Platform Detail of the Nicosia Central Station
10 Abbreviations
BA Biologist Association (refers to: Cyprus Turkish Biologists Environment Research and Protection Association)
CGR Cyprus Government Railways CIU Cyprus International University CMC Cyprus Mines Corporation
CTCEE Cyprus Turkish Chamber of Environmental Engineers CTMA Cyprus Turkish Medical Association
EIA Environmental Impact Analysis EMU Eastern Mediterranean University
EU European Union
EU-25 European Union of 25 member States (1 May 2004 - 31 December 2006) EUL European University of Lefke
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
METU-NCC Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus
MJ Mega Joule
m.p.h Miles per hour NEU Near East University PM Particulate Matter
PM2.5 Particulate Matter less than 2.5 μm from road dust PM10 Particulate Matter greater than 10 μm from road dust SEA Statistical Energy Analysis
TRNC Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus UCY University of Cyprus
UN United Nations
US United States
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1 Introduction
Environments change parallel with the technological, cultural, and social values due to the global mutual effects of sustainability. Sustainability is contributed by the environment, the economy and the social system (Somerville, 2003, p. 265; Pandolfi, 2012). The need of development and transportation on social life, success philosophies and ambitions, and human lifestyles thus the living spaces change the environment as well. Those changes, which involve transformations and modifications, mainly affect, and are affected by, young generations. Over the past century, they have became basic design criteria on contemporary art and architecture. Sometimes when it is difficult to discover new materials related with the ethical and aesthetical philosophies, experts have to re-think of and, using these changes, re-model the pre-existing ones. Transforming and/or modifying a pre-existing facility, such as the Cyprus Railways, could possibly be regarded as a re-transmission phenomenon as facility’s materials, operations, and services are subject to change in accordance with environmental changes.
Cyprus Railways was an incredible memory and development of the history of Cyprus (Radford, 2003; Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). It is afflicting that it was demolished in 1951 in spite of the successful industrial and military operations besides the public transportation facilities until then. Of course, the feasibility reports and justifications show why it lost its existence. The background of this pre-existing memory, which will be considered in details in Chapter 2, forms the base of this Thesis and it aims to draw an inspiration to adapt sustainable public transportation to Cyprus. Consequently, at the end of this concept, the findings will be retransmitted to circumstances in today’s Cyprus, thus transforming the structure of the urban complexes in Cyprus.
Transformation of the urban complexes is the very particular topic to criticise our environmental issues on territories. The word ‘complex’ has been undeniably chosen to articulate the contemporary cities’ fabric. Because of the functional needs of every city even if it is known as an underdeveloped city, located on sub-districts, they are still
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obliged to deal with global interactions; architects collaborate with scientists, philosophers, and artists to evaluate and transform the existing social and physical structure according to multicultural usage. Therefore, there would not be any determinable single territory in a city. Identification of the territory varies according to all social positions of people. Some of them define territories with physical boundaries, but also there are some that define it with feelings where there are no any visible limits. Those invisible, mythic limits generally depend on memories. In other words, the feeling of belonging to a place, which is a psychological perception with the social and political components, may draw a boundary like the very nominative and naive constitutions; neighbourhood children groups. This basic instinct allows them to define each group’s own boundaries. Furthermore, those invisible boundaries start to become visible, concrete limits between countries or at the edges of lands and oceans. In anyway, there are still existing invisible but recognizable boundaries even between countries, which are identified on graphics such as plans, maps, etc. Thereby, it is a fact that philosophers and experts on the idea of territories should deal with only cities in order to define the urban phenomena. Like Morales (1995), Carlos Leite (2006) also underline the existence of the abandoned, wedged areas in the cities to describe the problems of identity, fragmentation of cosmopolitan and contemporary cities. The definition of wasteland in its French origin, ‘terrain vague’, comes with accuracy in a text, currently classic, of the Catalan architect Ignasi de Solà Morales (1995) under a cultural context: “…an area without clear boundaries, without current use is vague, of hard understanding on the collective citizens’ perception, normally constituting a tear in the urban fabric.” (Leite, 2006)
However, those wedged areas are also an available area, full of expectations, with strong urban memory, potentially unique, the space of the possible, of the future (Morales, 1995).
It is a well-oriented explanation of contemporary urban experience as a territory with the point of Ignasi Morales (1995) who defines territory as a system of inhabited spaces that gives an identity to the city – a place where people share values - with its historical
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and contemporary memories. It is incontrovertible in the way that the spatial needs of contemporary life cannot integrate itself with historical, memorial physical shape according to the international political relations, economic situations, technology, etc. Thus, architects, who should examine the theoretical aspects of territorial urban phenomena according to Morales (1995), are not always capable of dealing with fragmentation of the identity of the cities. Because an urban area may comprise of more than one territory and sometimes those territories are not integrated with the urban area. For example, a military zone is also an inhabited space but it has concrete boundaries, which do not integrate with the city in any way. It causes the fragmentation of the territory. What is more, historical city walls are oppositely defining habited territory where preservation and conservation of the existing is dense like in the Venetian city walls of Nicosia(Stubbs & Makaŝ, 2011, p. 353). Especially in the medieval city of Nicosia (Greek: Λευκωσία; Turkish: Lefkoşa), the historical urban fabric consists of two storey high buildings with generally load-bearing stone walls where those fabric encircled by city walls during Renaissance period between 1567‒1571, directed by the architect Giulio Savorgnàn. Undeniably, those territories are not capable of expanding with its own fabric and same typology because, otherwise, it will not facilitate sustainability, which is the most important issue on contemporary developments, unlike urban sprawl.
Cyprus, which is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is geopolitically divided into two halves. Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is located in the northern half of the island and is only recognized by Turkey. The whole island has been occupied or controlled by many civilisations during its history, but it was in 1974 when Cyprus was divided into two territories with a buffer zone in between as a result of the war that occurred descriptively between the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities. Objectively, it was a war that was created for self-interests by some global forces like the United States of America, United Kingdom, Greece, and Turkey. Eastern Mediterranean is still an on-going phenomenon among global forces. Because of the energy terminals and presence of the Eastern Mediterranean in the centre of the
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geopolitics of the world, the region has led to be the first agenda item for particularly the US and the EU strategies, including all the global powers (Turhan, 2010b).
During the 20th century, especially after the World Wars, there were radical changes in materials and ethical philosophies related to the transformation on both urban and territorial phenomena. As mentioned above, territories had been transformed or modified according to the results of war. This also allows the modifications on the pre-existing urban facts and architectural objects, which are related with the continuity as renewal of an ethical imperative. Issue of ethics was important in that period because of the need of cultural and physical changes. Conservation became a modern design process to relate the new with historical background. As Frank Matero (2000) notes: “Artifacts and sites are divorced from their past by the present's historical consciousness, which dictates new motives and methods for their use and preservation.”
In 1974, northern part of Cyprus was occupied by Turkey and around 30 thousand Turkish Cypriots were allowed to migrate from south to north, to the “saved frontiers” (the phrase is being used by the Turkish Cypriot Security Forces – in Turkish: Güvenlik Kuvvetleri Komutanlığı – and also became a common description of the Northern Cyprus quote for Turkish Cypriots who came through the war). In 1983, almost a decade later, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) was established just after the Turkish Federative State of Cyprus. Obviously, only the Republic of Turkey recognizes it. Nevertheless, after the Republic of Cyprus (southern part of Cyprus, where the Greek Cypriot community lives) joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 (European Commission, 2012), political, social and economic obscurities have been increased on behalf of Northern Cyprus.
On the other hand, Northern Cyprus with its Turkish Cypriot community got into a development period when the negotiation process for reunification of Cypriot communities started at the beginning of 2003 based on the Cyprus Solution Plan, which was firstly issued on November 2002 by Kofi Annan. This development firstly occurred
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on building construction sector on behalf of Turkish Cypriots. On 26 February 2006, EU approved an aid regulation for the Turkish Cypriot community aimed at putting an end to the isolation of this community and helping prepare for the reunification for the island (European Commission, 2012). This programme includes urban development with rehabilitation studies of policies and law, preservation of historical and architectural heritage, improvement and adaptation studies for local industries and transportation besides its social and cultural implements. Nevertheless, especially the transportation fact is contented yet with only theoretical rehabilitation studies on the existing situation for example inventory survey on urban road networks in Nicosia, Famagusta, and Kyrenia, intended for the Turkish Cypriot Community Traffic Safety Improvement Programme, which is supported by the European Union (Europe Aid/124747/D/SER/CY) in 2010.
Related with all those matters above, the aim of this thesis is to study the possibilities, advantages, and impacts of a railway network in Cyprus, and then to provide information about evaluation the degree and the possible results of integration and/or dislocation between the network, society, and urban areas, also to provide conceptual approach for a railway station, by understanding the historical background of the Cyprus Government Railways.
2 Historical background of Cyprus Railways
The pre-existing railway of Cyprus is a picturesque memory for a diminutive part of the Cypriot population. Lapse of time, results of wars and, of course, the demolition and distortion of a large portion of the physical appearance have lead the memories fade into oblivion. Recollection facts include mostly the romantic portrayals and social impulses of researches by scientists and artists as opposed to the main role of building the railways in Cyprus. The Cyprus Government Railway was built to consolidate the British rule over Cyprus and at modernising the system of administration during 1878 –
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1959 (Hadjilyra, 2006) besides the fundamental economic and geopolitical logistics orientation.
The British pursued the foreign policy applied in India during the 19th century by the influence of the famous strategist Mahan, because the core of this strategy was to keep routes to India under control; the British saw the island of Cyprus as an important military base and they actually haven’t still left the island. Therefore, it is expressed that the British, before they took over the administration of the island, were planning on building a railway line and in this wise to increase activities and efficiency in the Middle East (Turhan, 2010a). In other words, this period was to bring considerable prosperity to Cyprus and its new railway in providing supplies for the British Forces engaged in the Middle Eastern theatre in 1914 when the entry of Turkey into the First World War on the side of Germany and the Austro-Hungarians precipitated the final annexation of Cyprus by Great Britain (Radford, 2003).
At the beginning of the colonial occupation of Britain in Cyprus in 1878, Sir Garnet Wolseley, the governor of the time, had developed projects and initiatives on transportation in Cyprus. As the British were paying the Ottoman Empire 92,800 English Pounds as rent and because of strategic issues and also the construction period on the harbour at Alexandria in Egypt, the British Government had refused Wolseley’s intentions (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006). The possibility of establishing a railway system seems to have occurred very early on and its earliest official expression was undoubtedly based on Wolseley’s need to provide military rather than civilian communications. The introduction of railways was in any case characteristics of British colonial enterprise and it is hardly surprising that the resurgence of British and other interests in Cyprus had already attracted exploratory surveys in advance of the formal occupation. With British influence already well-established in the Levant, one therefore finds that Sir George Elliot was active at his own expense at the time of the occupation, preparing comprehensive plans for a railway system which it was intended would eventually be connected with the old harbour at Famagusta, once this had been dredged, as well as with the roadstead at Larnaca (Radford, 2003).
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However, nine authorities had studied 11 railway projects between 1878 and 1903 with different gauge systems and mileage (see Table 2-1) (Radford, 2003). Although, Larnaca was the favoured harbour of many proposals, it would be pointless to build a railway to link Nicosia and Larnaca, since a public road already served that route: Famagusta was, subsequently, the next natural choice (Hadjilyra, 2006). The four of the eleven railway projects were drawn on maps by either themselves or other authorities (See Figure 2-1).
Figure 2-1 Earlier plans for a proposed railway network in Cyprus, shown on today’s political map of Cyprus. Adapted from Radford, 2003; The USAF Aeronautical Chart and Information Centre, 1958.
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Table 2-1 Summary of the railway schemes. Adapted from Radford (2003).
Authority Date To Connect Milage Gauge Type Estimated Cost
Sir George Elliot 1878-79
1878-79 Nicosia Larnaca (& Famagusta) Karavostasi Nicosia Famagusta Kythrea Larnaca 36 ½ (58.74 km) 130 ¾ (210.42 km) 3′3″ (990.6 mm) 3′3″ (990.6 mm) £120-130.000 (£210.000) £430.000 Mr Provand 1891-97 Nicosia Larnaca 40 (64.37 km) 2′6″ (762 mm) £120.000 Mr Cunningham for High Commissioner 1897 Nicosia Larnaca 37 (59.54 km) 2′6″ (762 mm) £70.000 Lt H.L. Pritchard DSO, RE 1899 1899 Nicosia Karavostasi Nicosia Famagusta Larnaca 34 (54.71 km) 61 (98.16 km) 3′6″ (1066.8 mm) 3′6″ (1066.8 mm) £80.587 £177.070 CO Dispatch No 154 1899 Nicosia Famagusta 37 (59.54 km) 3′6″ (1066.8 mm) £130.000 Mr Bellamy, Director Public Works 1902 Karavostasi Nicosia Famagusta Larnaca 120 (193.12 km) 2′5 ½″ (749.3 mm) £144.000 Mr Collett, Acting Receiver General 1902 Karavostasi Nicosia Famagusta Larnaca 100 (160.93 km) 2′5 ½″ (749.3 mm) £120.000 High Commissioner in Dispatch No 150 1902 Karavostasi Famagusta Larnaca 120 (193.12 km) 2′5 ½″ (749.3 mm) £125.000
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2.1 Determination of the railway route and expectations
Designation of a planned railway route created many complicated arguments right before the construction of the Cyprus Railways. The arguments were based on three major issues. First, British authorities were focusing on the importance of the route to be connected with a harbour. The economic and social prospects and the existing roads in the island were the other basic topics.
It should be noted that, although both the private companies and as well as the public authorities offered a number of projects to the Ministry of the British Colonies, it was not very easy to decide on the establishment of a railway on the island, so much that the dream materialized only after 25 years of British landing in the island.
During late 19th century, there were two harbours in Cyprus. One of them was Larnaca, which was more functional and active, even though there were shortages on infrastructure. Ottomans entered the island in 1571 and the British came in 1878, and they both carried out the importing and exporting facilities through Larnaca harbour during their presence. However, because of the existence of a road between Larnaca and Nicosia even though it needed maintenance, and the capacity of the Larnaca harbour was not enough to store and protect cargoes, the argument on connecting the railway and Larnaca harbour was rejected and then they decided to connect it with the Famagusta harbour, which was located on the eastern coast of Cyprus. This was the main reason why they gave a start to the Railway network from the Famagusta harbour (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). It is quite clear that the British mentality considers a railway connected with a harbour; thereby the railway would support the country’s import and export activities, and create a more feasible context regarding the economy.
In 1891 the population of the island became 209,300 (Lahmeyer, 2003) and it was carrying on a steady trade mainly through the ports of Larnaca and Limassol, exporting produce and importing manufactured goods and raw materials (Radford, 2003).
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In the beginning of 1900s, extensive discussions were held in the British Parliament, and many letters were exchanged between the UK Government and the Administration of Cyprus, until Frederick Shelford undertook a feasibility study for the construction of a railway line, and submitted it on 15 July 1903 (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a).
2.2 Characteristics of the built route
The basic strategy of the Shelford’s project certainly was that the railway should be directly connected with a harbour to support the import and export facilities of the country and military services (Radford, 2003). Therefore, the project was starting from the Famagusta harbour and proceeding through the west of the island with 70 miles (112.65 km), where 1 mile (1.6 km) was in the boundaries of the harbour (Turhan, 2010a).
In the beginning, the route was going to start from the Famagusta Harbour on the east of the island and will end at Karavostasi at the west, by travel over the Mesaoria (Mesarya) plain to reach Nicosia and then Morfou at a total estimated cost of 141.526 English Pounds. But finally, because of the presence of Cyprus Mine Corporation (CMC) in Karyotis area in Lefka (Lefke in Turkish) district, an extension of a rack railway ― the basis of the Elliot’s proposal ― included through Troodos mountains in the south until the Evrykhou (Evrychou) at the elevation of 1300 metres (Radford, 2003; Hadjilyra, 2006).
The railway route was based on a gauge of 2 feet 6 inches (762 mm), which is a narrow gauge, as the Shelford’s proposal, and light-flat bottomed rail of 30 lby/yd (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a).
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Figure 2-2 Famagusta Harbour in May 1906 by Crown Agents. Taken from Radford (2003).
The Cyprus Government Railways were built in three phases. First phase was started to be built in February 1904 with the earthworks, and including 15 halt points in approximately every 2 miles (3.21 km) between Famagusta and Nicosia Station (Turhan, 2010a). It was totally 36 miles (57.93 km) long with the exception of 1-mile-long Famagusta Harbour line (see Figure 2-2) and constructed with only the amount of £87.396, where the estimated cost of the project was £107,000 (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006). This section was putted into operation with an inaugural solemnity on the 21st of October 1905 in Famagusta by the High Commissioner Sir Charles Anthony King-Harman, and had 4 locomotives, 6 passengers’ carriages, 7 freight trucks, and 21 multipurpose open-top freight wagons (Turhan, 2010a). The first journey between Famagusta and Nicosia of the locomotive No.1 (see Figure 2-3) was operated by R.E. Pritchard, who contributed greatly to the establishment of the railway network in Cyprus (Turhan, 2010a).
The average velocity of the trains was 25 miles (40 km) per hour and the travel takes 2 hours to complete the route between Famagusta and Nicosia. Along this route, there were 51 different sizes of bridges mostly built with stone and steel, on top of the rivers and streams in order to flood danger (Hadjilyra, 2006).
Another characteristic of the first Phase is that the main route out of the harbour was started to be built with the rails brought by the ship “Cyprian Prince” while the
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furnishing of the 1-mile long line in the harbour continues and warehouses, and new buildings construction within the harbour (Radford, 2003; Turhan, 2010a). Meanwhile, two storey-high Famagusta Terminus building or the main administrative building of Cyprus Government Railways was started to be built and a tunnel included to 1-mile long harbour line was dug under the arterial road against disruption of traffic.
Figure 2-3 CGR locomotive No.1 on exhibition in Famagusta.
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The CGR Terminus building in Famagusta ―today TRNC Department of Land Registry and Cadastre, Famagusta Branch Chiefdom (see Figure 2-4) ― was built in British Colonial style architecture with stones carried from the northern quarries of the island, contrary to rumours that stones brought from the Bellapais Abbey in Kyrenia district and the city walls of Famagusta (Turner, 1979; Radford, 2003; Hadjilyra, 2006). At the ground floor of this building, there were passengers’ waiting room and dispatchers’ rooms and administrative officers as for the first floor (Turhan, 2010a).
The second Phase of the CGR construction were held between Nicosia and Morfou starting before the opening ceremony of the first Phase from July 1905 and completed on the 31st of March 1907, for almost two years (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006). In this route, there were eight halts between Nicosia Station and Morfou Station thus the distance between every of them is around 3 miles (4.82 km) (Turhan, 2010a). The Phase 2 of the railways, which was 24 miles (38.62 km) long, cost £34,731 (Hadjilyra, 2006). What is more, for the same reason as the first Phase, 34 bridges were constructed along this section.
Both of the phases were built and putted into the service according to the feasibility reports of Pritchard and especially Shelford, and the early explorations of Elliot after long-term and exhaustive discussions, but the enterprise of the system was not providing the expected profit, thus it was in an economical crisis (Radford, 2003; Turhan, 2010a). In common with many other light railways in Great Britain, it supported a somewhat nebulous trading area, and it did not sponsor any specific commodity, having lost its grip on the mineral traffic almost before the mines went into production (Radford, 2003). Therefore, the enterprise was needed some alternative studies to overcome the financial problems, to prove it and to keep the railway on course, which was done by Bedford Glasier in 1913 (Radford, 2003). Glasier, in his report, suggested an additional route, which was going to reach to Lefka from Morfou, and allow the train to climb towards the Troodos Mountains to be able to support the mining facilities and to supply timber transport from the mountains to make the system profitable (Turner, 1979; Turhan, 2010a).
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Following the Glasier’s report, the works had began to construct the third phase, which was 15 miles (24.14 km) long at the beginning, and had eight more halts to reach the last Evrykhou station after the Morfou Station, on November 1913 (Radford, 2003; Turhan, 2010a). However, on the contrary to the previous phases, the construction of the third Phase cost £31.683, fifty percent higher than the expected amount of £21,800 (Turhan, 2010a). The last 5-miles (8 km) of this route considered as doomed part of the railways, because it and the Evrykhou station were demolished in 1932, and never constructed again by the British government as retribution to the protests of the villagers against the Governor (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a).
The Cyprus Government Railways operated 12 locomotives (see Table 2-2) in its history with typical colonial railway systems of the period and their fuel was basically wood and coal until the Second World War (Radford, 2003). Until then, coal was provided from England or Egypt through shipments to the Famagusta harbour, and wood from the Troodos’s (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a; cypnet.co.uk, 1994-2013). During the war, procurement of the energy sources was quite gruelling, thus engineers transformed some of the locomotives into gas engines (Turhan, 2010a).
Table 2-2 List of the locomotives of the CGR inventory. Adapted from Radford (2003).
# Trademark Wheel arrangement / Type Avarage Speed CGR Reg. No.
1 Hunslet 0-6-0T / Tank Locomotive 20-25 m.p.h 1
2 Nasmyth Wilson 4-4-0 / Passenger Locomotives
20-25 m.p.h 11, 12
3 Nasmyth Wilson 2-6-0 / Mixed Traffic Locomotives
20-25 m.p.h 21, 22, 23
2 Nasmyth Wilson 2-6-2T / Tank Locomotives 20-25 m.p.h 31, 32 4 Kitson 4-8-4T / Tank Locomotives 20-25 m.p.h 41, 42, 43, 44
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2.3 Impacts of the Cyprus Government Railways
The Cyprus Government Railways were, both economically and socially, a very important contribution to the people of Cyprus as well as to the island of Cyprus. Generally, it is an acceptable point of view that the rail transport is quite cheap, economic and safe, besides being a mode of transport that provides a pleasure of view (Turhan, 2010a), which is depend on the landscape of the route. In spite of this point of view, it is quite difficult to utter that the Cypriots of that era have adapted and embraced to the train. Furthermore, rumours express that the persons, who have never seen this machine, attacked to trains with axes and hatchets, while thinking naively that it was going to kill them (Turhan, 2010a). Nevertheless, after some time people got used to the railway and naturally railways’ greatest impact has been in the field of passenger and freight transport.
Regardless of the fact that the population of Cyprus was around 370,000 (248,000 in 1905 and 492,000 in 1951 (Lahmeyer, 2003)) during the operation period of 46 (1905‒1951) years of the CGR, the railway system carried almost 7,349,000 people and 3,200,000 tonnes of goods ((Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). Therefore, we can estimate an approximate number of public carriages as 160,000 persons annually by the railways. Therefore, we can put these numbers as an evidence of how it activated the domestic tourism, even if the people were complaining the speed of the train. The bibliographies says that the railway stations frequently transformed into a market place or a business room by passengers to trade some local goods of promote services while giving a break during the journeys.
The development and modernisation of the Famagusta Harbour with the railway facilities had an important role on increasing incoming tourist numbers by water transport. However, some records, which can be found in the National Archive of the TRNC, show the number of the passengers’ percentages is almost same between locals and foreigners, mostly Egyptians and French. For this reason, the railway development did not improve only the domestic tourism but also the external tourism.
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The railway phenomenon cannot be delimited by neither passenger nor freight transport facility. Thus, the railway in Cyprus was a tangible reference to identify the social impacts. The enterprise augmented the social enthusiasm, excitement, and entertainment by organising additional journeys or changing the visual aspects ―colouring or decorating― of the wagons during some special events, holidays, festivals, and fairs (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006). For example, during the visit and journey with the train of the Under-secretary of the Ministry of Colonies Sir Winston Churchill in 1907, people had been flocking into the streets to welcome, and to find opportunity to convey their requests, such as asking to expand the route from Nicosia to Karavostasi, Lefka, to supply citrus fruit transportation (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). The connection and the relationship between the railway and the Famagusta Harbour influenced positively the inland commerce and international trade. Similar with the tourism fact, industrial and geoponic products may enter from the harbour and could be distributed around the island until Lefka, also local agricultural products, such as citrus from Morfou region and wood from the Troodos, could be exported smoothly via harbour, or cereal products ―wheat and barley― from Mesaoria plain could be launch around Cyprus (Turhan, 2010a).
Most part of the 3,199,934 tonnes of freight transport was ores from the rich mineral resources of Cyprus from Evrykhou region in that period. Therefore, the railway was the initiator to strengthen the Cyprus Mines Corporations (CMC) and supporter to export mineral resources of copper, pyrite, chrome, asbestos, and coal (Turner, 1979; Radford, 2003). In other sources associated with the CMC, they are analysing the environmental effects of gold process (Bıldır, 2001).
However, even if it was not mentioned on the bibliographies clearly, the development of the railways created new possibilities and building materials on the architecture in Cyprus. After the entry of steel material into the island, uses of steel beams have been appeared in new constructed buildings, in addition to the constructed bridges for the railway route. Nevertheless, along the route the landscape has been changed with planting trees, which were eucalyptus, Mediterranean cypress, acacia, and Turkish oak.
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Most of the trees are still remaining either along the existing motorways between Morfou and Famagusta, or in between the suburbs of Nicosia (see Figure 2-5).
Figure 2-5 Pre-existing railway route in Nicosia at 35.185386,33.369397.
Another impact of the railways was endorsement of building communication network in the island. The communication between the stations along the route by telephone and telegraph, also has been served for the communication between the surrounding communities (Radford, 2003; Hadjilyra, 2006). The stations took on a different identity, serving as a post office too. In the economical point of view, British Postal Administration used to combine the delivery network with the railways by paying around £250 per month to the CGR, which was quite profitable on behalf of the railways during the era (Turhan, 2010a).
The Cyprus Government Railways enterprise created employment area for many Greek and Turkish Cypriots, as well as the Finnish, Dutch, and French employees, while the British were in the administrative positions. In 1930, after 25 years of establishment, the number of the personnel employed by the entity has reached 227 people (Radford, 2003). However, during the financial crisis in 1937, the number decreased to 193 and
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later at the end of 1940s, raised up to 234. Right before the extermination in 1951, there were 352 people working in the railways (Hadjilyra, 2006).
Undeniably, there were strikes and protests by either employees or community in the history of the railways. The first strike occurred in 1941 by the employees with the result of eight imprisonments of the workers (Hadjilyra, 2006). There were other strikes in 1944, 1946, and linked to the extermination of the railways, in 1951. Therefore, CGR played an active role in Cyprus trade unionism (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a).
The last but not least, another very important function of the railways was military transportation. Especially during the Second World War, the British made the deployment and logistical support of all the forces in Nicosia Airport and Xeros (Gemikonağı) zones by the railway (Turhan, 2010a).
2.4 Justifications for extermination of the railway
The CGR, like a narrow gauge railway undertakings all over the world, especially in Britain, was dealing with the commercial business in an inconsistent area, where the conditions may change at any time, and there was only one financial supporter: the state. As a consequence of the capitalist business approach, like the other public enterprises, the railways had the purpose to be useful to the public and provide quality service, thereupon to make profit. Light railway operators were carrying out the commercial activities by wrapping on a particular activity rather than dealing with all of country (Turner, 1979). As a matter of fact, the CGR’s commercial activities relied on the Cyprus mining businesses and it had achieved actual profit of carrying mine (Turhan, 2010a). However, the railway enterprise had began to enter into financial problems by the results of the shrinkage of the mining activities and the reduction of the financial support of the state (Turner, 1979; Radford, 2003).
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Another reason of collapsing of the railways was the wars that frazzling its equipments and so creating financial crises. For example, the railways were transporting almost only soldiers and ammunitions in between 1914‒1918 with especially the tank locomotives (Radford, 2003) like between 1939 and 1945.
Following the Second World War, after 1945s, the industrial revolution and so Fordism period created disadvantages on behalf of the Cyprus Railways like the other part of the world, besides the advantages. From 1935, the rumours started to mess the island that the Ford industry will export motor vehicles, which will accommodate more comfort and freedom of transport, to the island (cypnet.co.uk, 1994-2013). Anyway, the road between Famagusta and Nicosia had been constructed and putted into service in between 1937 and 1941, and then cars and diesel trucks, which can carry 6 tonnes of freight, started to travel on the road (Turhan, 2010a).
There were many grievances by various public sectors for the railways. At first, the businesspersons, who were willing to import motor vehicles into the island, and thus the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce, were opposed to the railways (Turhan, 2010a). The tradesmen of Larnaca and Limassol, and its municipalities were complaining about the railways, since people travelling to Famagusta, Nicosia, and Morfou, instead of southern coasts of the island (Hadjilyra, 2006). On the other hand, the rail fleet of the CGR started to become old and deteriorated after the service of 35 years, and the company needed £400,000 to renovate the fleet and to cover the salaries of the crew, but unfortunately the Ministry of Finance of Britain did not want to pay anymore (Radford, 2003; Hadjilyra, 2006). The fatal accident of the train near Nicosia Hippodrome in Engomi, was another negation for the public, because of two deaths in the result of the accident (Turner, 1979).
Cyprus Railways defeated to highways and behaviours ―which has the capitalist prospect without worries about future― of the businessmen after nearly half a century of service (1905‒1951) to the people of Cyprus; in some periods, especially in the first and second World Wars without any profit, in other times, working profitable.
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Workers of the Cyprus Government Railways started a strike with their union against the speculations of closing down the railways on the 6th of April, 1951, but the strike would not prevail the authorities. In fact, it was another corrosive shock for the railways, because of depths. Therefore, the Colonial Government published an announcement that the CGR was going to make the last journey on the 31st of December 1951 from Nicosia to Famagusta (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). The last train, which was also the first locomotive No 1 that made the first journey on the 21st of October 1905, departed from Nicosia station at 14:57 on Monday, the 31st of December 1951.
Almost all of the locomotives, except the No 1 and 31, and some of the wagons converted into iron and steel scrap and sold at auction for £65,626 to Meyer Newman & Co. In 1953, the company transported the scrap with two steamships to Italy (Hadjilyra, 2006; Turhan, 2010a). However, those tank locomotives were used for dismantling the rail tracks, first from Kalokhorio to Nicosia, then from Nicosia to Famagusta, which finalized on march 1952 (Turner, 1979; Hadjilyra, 2006). All of the other materials and equipments either sold to locals or donated to seven governmental departments of Cyprus.
3 Current urban transportation characteristics of Northern Cyprus
The Turk-controlled part of Cyprus Island –so called the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC)– is one of the candidates for developing countries by the governance of the European Union even though it is not in the list of developing countries by the European Commission. However, because the TRNC is dependent on the Republic of Turkey and as it is the unrecognized part of Cyprus, it can be called as developing country. In fact, Turkey is in the list of developing countries (PwC, European Commission, 2011).
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There are three modes of transportation occurring in Northern Cyprus: urban road transportation, air transportation, and water transportation. The highest percentage of urban road transportation is covered by passenger vehicles due to the lack of adequate and sustainable public transportation.
However, Northern Cyprus holds the second place in terms of the number of vehicles per capita in the world after the United States based on 823 vehicles per thousand people with the 238,839 de-facto number of the registered vehicles. In the US, which holds first place, the rate is 842 vehicles per thousand people. Luxembourg is a close follower with 697 of Northern Cyprus (Ucar, 2011). The rate in Southern Cyprus was 408 cars per thousand people in 2002, where the number of cars increased by 65% in 2012 (ECORYS Nederland BV, 2006). These details pose a threat for the microclimatic conditions of Cyprus and for the global warming, both of which cannot be ignored. On the other hand, they also show that there is no adequate public transportation existing in whole island of Cyprus.
Parallel with the number of the vehicles per capita, the percentage of the fatal traffic accidents is quite high comparing to the European countries. The EU traffic reports, which show that traffic’s negative components are higher than the EU standards in the country, noted 24.4% fatal traffic accidents in the TRNC, while this figure was 11.7% in the EU countries (Sütçü, 2009).
3.1 Peculiarities vs. contradictions
In order to examine the transportation notions of any country or a territory, the population parameters should be very clear. However, population parameters of Northern Cyprus are a contradictory peculiar aspect. In 2006, after the adaptation studies for Turkish Cypriot community to the EU, the population, and housing unit census held in TRNC by the advices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and the European Community Statistical Office. The census shows 256,644
de-32
jure and 265,100 de-facto populations in TRNC. Right after the census, rumours dispersed that the embassy of Turkey in Northern Cyprus brought the census forms directly to Turkey before the forms were registered by the Turkish Cypriot Authorities. That is why there are some conflicts about the census results between non-governmental organisations and the census communities. By calculating the daily bread production in Northern Cyprus, it is estimated that the population must be between 400 and 450 thousands according to non-official statistics. Research showed that a total of 800,000 loaves of bread are produced daily by local bakeries. On the other hand, average per family/housing unit population in Cyprus is 4, and they consume 2 loaves of bread per day. According to rumours, even if 80,000 loaves of bread were not sold each day, the number of the loaves produced would show the approximate population.
Similarly, on the 4th of December 2011, another general population, and housing unit census was held in TRNC. The provisional result was 294,906 de-facto population (TAK Agency, 2011). The TAK agency also mentioned that the population increased 16.3% in 5 years from 2006 to 2011. Unfortunately, the authorities did not publish the definitive results for some unknown reason. Detailed information will be evaluated in the “Motorcars’ Footprints of Northern Nicosia” case study, which is mostly unimpressed by the Air Quality Report of the TRNC in 2010. The reason for this ignorance is that the report shows the data of air pollutants, which are measured by automatic measuring devices at only two air quality monitoring stations in northern Nicosia, and the report does not include the CO₂ emission measurements.
Lack of public transportation in Northern Cyprus, creates a critical question: how do Turkish Cypriots move around for their daily life? It is clear that there must be adequate private transportation; motorcars, which is obvious from the data of 823 motorcars per 1,000 people as mentioned above. However, these numbers create another contradiction with the parking opportunities in the urban areas. Another Europe Aid Programme report shows insufficiency of parking spaces: Lack of organized parking spaces for private and commercial vehicles, which could lead to problems in terms of both safety and capacity of the parking, is a common problem. Even though there are
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nearby parking facilities in a legal manner, it is not unusual for cars to be parked on pavements. It seems that the enforcement of policies and regulations is not sufficiently effective for parking (SweRoad, European Union, 2010). For example, there is a paid parking area in Kyrenia city centre with little occupancy rate. The reason for this is probably the free parking spots on nearby streets. If the price of the street parking spaces were the same with the parking area, occupancy rates would be the same or would less likely be higher. This problem is same for every urban area in Northern Cyprus. The European Aid Programme report also declares the insufficiency and insecurity of the roads in Northern Cyprus.
In spite of these problems, the government and/or the relevant authorities stand aloof from taking any action. In this case, they have to improve the existing policies or develop more sustainable policies. Besides that, the TRNC Ministry of Public Works and Transportation, Department of Highways declared 73.64 km of new roads, which were planned to be built after 2012. On the other hand, the State Planning Organisation listed many issues pointing the macroeconomic and sectoral developments in 2010. Increasing demand for road transport and the traffic in regions with a high population density have become one of the major issues and heavy vehicle traffic on the roads is another important factor in the reduction of traffic safety (State Planning Organisation, 2010).
3.2 Impacts of the existing urban transportation
In this section, the impacts are divided into four categories below for detailed analysis: Social, Economical, Environmental impacts, and Landscape and Visual effects. Sometimes, some of the impressions will fit more than one category; such cases are clarified, where the impact is stronger.
34 3.2.1 Social impacts
Social impacts of a transportation mode on a community, and flora and fauna excessively include a wide range of topics that make interactions with the environment and economy. The principles of the social evaluation are divided into social feasibility and social acceptability (Pandolfi, 2012).
The social feasibility means integrating the community values and concerns into plans and projects, and its most proper results are social policies requiring choices concerning the allocation of scarce resources among competing needs, and redistributive policies that they transferring benefits from one interest to another. The examples for this study can be traffic conditions, transportation alternatives, externalities of transports, environmental issues (EIA and SEA), alternative energies, and even road pricing, which was suggested by Arthur Pigou in 1920. However, the social acceptability or acceptance is a concept related to the ability to accept, or to be able to tolerate, differences and diversity in other people or groups of people, such as, most people, in order to fit in with the others, look and act like them. An acceptable project should be physically and environmentally possible, economically feasible, generating revenue in excess of costs, and socially and culturally adoptable, consistent with prevailing social customs and norms.
In this matter, the first social impact of the current transportation of Cyprus is adverse health effects not only due to air pollutants linked to motor vehicles, but also to the earth and water pollutants. Health effects make up the most powerful effect that is not limited with single period, but sometimes may impinge generations.
Health problems are not directly related to today’s transportation status, but the cancer problem in Cyprus is also gives some clues for the pre-existing railway transportation, because of the development of CMC is dependent on the railways. Within the history of Cyprus, during the CMC facilities in Lefka, there were eight known deaths from various
35
cancers, associated with toxic pollutants in that area found on the list of the underground mines of Karadağ in Lefka (Bıldır, 2001).
Compared to previous years, there are many increased health problems caused by environmental pollution ‒particularly chemicals‒ in Northern Cyprus. Chemico-toxic substance pollution causes an increase in asthma, cancer, hormonal and sexual developmental disorders, besides the pollution caused by the CMC consolidate the life-line with the cancer as a destiny of generations (CTMA, CTCEE, BA, 2012).
On the other hand, two of the air pollutants linked to motor vehicles, namely volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and particulate matter (PM), are seen as toxic ambient air pollutants that cause a variety of health issues including cancer, lung cancer, liver and skin cancer, leukaemia, respiratory cancer, cognitive impairment, and neurobehavioral disorders (McCubbin & Delucchi, 2003). The annual mean concentrations of PM10 in Cyprus are around 75 microgram/m³ in Nicosia, 64 microgram/m³ in Kyrenia, and 72 microgram/m³ in Famagusta, where the annual limit value should be 40 microgram/m³ (Baki & Diran, 2010). However, the annual mean concentrations of VOC benzene in Cyprus are below the limit value of 5 microgram/m³. Therefore, these data cannot fit into the social acceptance regulators; at least it cannot be physically and environmentally possible, and cannot be socially and culturally adoptable.
Another impact of current transportation, as a socio-economic fact, is the travelling possibilities of working-class people, who do not have private cars or cannot share their cars within the family, given that they own a single car. The information below, which provides an example of the socio-economic status in Cyprus, is solely based on personal observations.
There are many workers who work in the capital city Nicosia. Although they live in other cities, the pre-establishment of government buildings in Nicosia make them travel to this city. This example is based on several workers who live in Morfou and Lefka regions, and work in the Nicosia State Hospital. They actually had two options for proper
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transportation. The first option was to travel with a minibus service, which cost 280 Turkish Liras (116 Euros) per month per person. Using the minibus service directly from Lefka to Nicosia takes 1 hour and 10 minutes. The return journey included an exchange of the vehicle in Morfou, lengthening the travel time to 1.5 hours. The second option was to travel with a shared private car supposedly owned by one of the workers; this cost 440 Turkish Liras (183 Euros) per month per person. In this case, it took about 40 minutes in both directions. The price of the second option is the initiative of the car owner who wants to make illegal profit. In the beginning, they chose the second option to save time, to arrive to the destination on time, and to have a comfortable journey. In later times, however, the workers were not able to afford this price because it was 1/3 of their salary per month. Therefore, they decided to choose the first option by making concession on loss of time and comfort.
In 2008, traffic accidents, resulting in 48 deaths and 1,339 personal injuries, were one of the most significant problems that required immediate effective solutions in the country (State Planning Organisation, 2010).
Mode of transportation and its social and economic impacts generally affect the vast majority of the population groups, vice versa, in a given country. These groups may be classified as: the group of private car owners, the group without any car, the group of public employees, the group of businessmen, or the group of higher education students who involved with transportation with their private cars or the private transportation services of the universities. The conditions of the number of the vehicles in Cyprus and their impacts are described at the beginning of this Chapter. However, higher education student population in Cyprus has a crucial role on social and macroeconomic conditions too because of covering high percentage of the total population.
The statistical reports dating back to 2008 (for the TRNC) and to 2011 (for the Republic of Cyprus) have declared the population of the higher education students. Accordingly, there were 45,844 higher education students in Northern Cyprus in 2008, and these students were spread across ten institutions of higher education, seven of which were
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universities (State Planning Organisation, 2010). In Southern Cyprus, the number of the higher education students was 32,118 within forty three tertiary schools in 2011 (CYSTAT, 2012; Statistical Service, 2012). Additionally, the de-facto population of Northern Cyprus was 295,396 in 2011 (State Planning Organisation, 2011), where 15.5% of the population was composed of higher education students, and this percentage was 3.8% out of total population of 840,407 in the Republic of Cyprus (CYSTAT, 2013). Therefore, social and economical impacts of higher education facilities are quite impressive in Northern Cyprus. In addition, two more universities have been established in Northern Cyprus in recent years, making the total number of universities nine.
A more interesting situation is that 88% of the university campuses in Northern Cyprus are located along the pre-existing railway route. However, social and cultural interactions in between the universities and between the campuses and the towns on this route are quite weak due to a lack of public transportation.
The physical capacities of the six out of twenty university campuses in whole Cyprus, have the greatest impact on the transport sector, in terms of population and traffic capacity values. An approximate population using the campuses is at least 62,554 (see Table 3-1), which basically includes the number of students, academics, and administrative staff. Some of the data below that obtained includes also the workers of those universities, for example NEU and EMU. This means that at least 5.5% of the overall population of the island of Cyprus travels to the six university campuses on a daily basis.
On the other hand, due to the development indicators and the future prospects of the universities, those numbers are expected to double by 2020s. This fact will have a massive impact on the environmental conditions of the island as well as on the social and economic structures.
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Table 3-1 Student and staff populations in six Cyprus universities and the number of motor vehicles per university.
University Campuses Number
of students Number of staff Sub-Total population % of total population Number of vehicles** Nicosia
Near East University (NEU)1 21,490 3,295 24,785 39.6 5,400** Cyprus International University (CIU)2 8,020 800* 8,820 14 568 University of Cyprus (UCY)3 6,240 1,248* 7,488 11.9 2687 Famagusta
Eastern Mediterranean University
(EMU)4 14,100 1,436 15,536 24.8 3,500**
Morfou
Middle East Technical University Northern Cyprus Campus (METU-NCC)5
1,798 297 2,095 3.3 442
Lefka
European University of Lefke (EUL)6 3,500 370 3,870 6.1 150
Total 55,148 7,446 62,554 100 12747
* Estimated number of staff that could not obtained from the authorities.
** Number of vehicles that use the campus on a daily basis, the other numbers are the parking lots within the campuses.
1 The data obtained by an e-mail of chancellery on the 3rd of October 2012 2
The data obtained by an interview with the director of Public Relations & Corporate Communications on the 28th of February 2013
3
The data obtained from the web site of the university (UCY, 2011a); the number of the staff is estimated from the ratio of its “future goal” page, where the numbers were 10,000 students and 2,000 staff in 2020, on population; the number of the parking plots obtained from the master plan of the main campus (UCY, 2011b).
4
The data obtained by an e-mail of chancellery on the 14th of March 2013
5 The data obtained by an interview with the registrar of directorate of student affairs on the 11th of March 2013
6 The data obtained by an interview with the manager of human resources and personnel department on the 11th of March 2013
39 3.2.2 Economical impacts
The reason for economic problems related to the transportation in the TRNC is the existing situation of international politics. The direct air and sea links with countries other than the Turkey cannot be made because of the derecognition of TRNC in the international arena.
The complete reliance of the domestic transportation on road transport in Cyprus reinforces the economical impacts and the importance of the road sub-sector of the economy. For example, in the boundaries of Northern Cyprus, there were 1,500 km long asphalt and 900-km-long unpaved (stabilized) roads in total of 2,400 km and the amount of road network density was 259 km per 1,000 km² (or 162 km length of highways, main and national roads per 1,000 km²), which was a fairly good road network compared to world standards, in 2008 (State Planning Organisation, 2010). Nevertheless, these density parameters are different in Southern Cyprus; 234-km-long highways, main and national roads per 1,000 km², which is more than twice as much as the EU-25 average and the highest among the new member states (ECORYS Nederland BV, 2006).
As a result of rapid and unplanned urbanisation, increasing freight transportation, roads and road infrastructure overloading further deterioration of the already inadequate and inefficient transport system has caused (State Planning Organisation, 2010). However, many socio-economic problems have been encountered on telephone and internet services due to the rapidly increasing construction and lack of infrastructure in some areas.
According to a scientific comparison based on the UK data, the energy consumption of a medium-sized car is 0.70 MJ per seat-km, while it is 0.39 MJ per seat-km of an urban electric train, or 0.29 MJ per seat-km of a single-deck bus (Potter, 2003). This is quite important for the appraisal of transportation developments. However, in Cyprus the energy consumption on transportation can only be analysed by using the statistics of the sale of oil products, as there is no any transportation mode by electricity yet.
