Prioritising and selecting the railway routes planned in the Eastern Black Sea Region with the AHP and TOPSIS methods

The construction of the railway, which is needed for the development of the Eastern Black Sea Region, is an issue that has been discussed and unresolved for about 110 years. The geomorphological structure of the region and the developments in the highway played a role in the delay of the railway construction. However, the developing technology in the railway, Turkey's being a part of the Iron Silk Road Project, and the agreements made with international connections have brought the railway construction to the region again. In the Environmental Plan (EP) approved and in force by the Ministry of Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change, four railway routes are planned to integrate the Eastern Black Sea region with the national/international railway network. These routes are; Samsun-Sarp, Trabzon-Erzincan, Of -Erzurum and Tirebolu-Bayburt. However, some of these routes are alternatives to each other and are not feasible and rational since the implementation of all planned routes requires great costs. The aim of this study is to develop a method for prioritizing and selecting the railway routes planned in the EP. Within the scope of this purpose, by using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and TOPSIS techniques, which are multi-criteria decision making methods, the routes were listed according to 4 criteria and 10 sub-criteria determined with the help of literature and expert team. As a result of the study; In both techniques, the order was the same and it was determined that the Samsun-Sarp railway was the most priority railway route. Trabzon-Erzincan came second, Of-Erzurum came third and Tirebolu-Bayburt came fourth.