A consortium headed by the Japanese Marubeni company, which includes Alstom and the Turkish BTP group, Dogus, has won a contract worth $1bn for building the second rail tunnel tranche linking Europe and Asia that goes under the Bosporus Straits in Istanbul. Marubeni explained that the contract will mean the consortium building 63 km of rail tracks, as well as railway stations and different key networks, including communication and electrical feeding systems. Completion of this second phase in the Marmaray project, which will connect trains in the suburbs on both sides of the straits, is planned for the end of 2009.