Turkish State Railways

Formerly planned railways

In 1948, the State Railways released a plan of railway lines that were to be constructed to "ensure national progression and safety".<r[1] The plan included 5,538 km of new railway lines of which only 96 km were actually completed; the Gaziantep-Karkamış section of the Narlı-Nusaybin railway was completed in 1960.<r[2]

Operations

Turkish State Railways operated most trains in the country until the end of 2016. Intercity, regional, suburban, freight and most industrial lines are owned and operated by the State Railways. The only other railways in Turkey include İZBAN (TCDD holds 50% of the company's shares) which operates commuter rail service around İzmir and a few other industrial railways. In addition to rail services, TCDD has been responsible since 1927 for operating several major ports, which handle 30% of Turkish port activities. {{[5] Today, the passenger ratio is slowly increasing with the opening of high-speed rail lines in Turkey.

In 2019, almost 150 million people traveled by train in Turkey. 17.5 million on main lines, 8.3 million on high-speed lines (2% increase compared to 2018) and 124 million used the Marmaray commuter railway. An[6]

The types of passenger service are:

• High-speed ({{lang|tr|Hızlı Tren}}): High-speed rail services and TCDD's premier service.
• Mainline ({{lang|tr|Anahat}}): Intercity trains operating between major cities.
• International ({{lang|tr|Uluslararası}}): Trains operating on international routes, toward Europe or the Middle East.
• Regional ({{lang|tr|Bölgesel}}): Trains operating within their respective districts.
• Commuter ({{lang|tr|Banliyö}}): Commuter trains, currently operating in Ankara and Istanbul.

High-speed services

High-speed rail in Turkey began service in 2009. TCDD has branded its high-speed service as Yüksek Hızlı Tren or YHT, directly translating to High-Speed Train, dubbed after the trains' capacity to reach 250 km/h (and in some advanced sections of the Ankara-Konya railroad up to 300 km/h). There had been previously tried but failed accelerated train projects, i.e. higher speed rail without the necessary upgrades on the railroad tracks, causing a number of accidents and ending up with losses incurred by TCDD in the early 2000s. YHT, in stark contrast, became a commercially successful, safe and cheap alternative to Flights and Roads, cutting the travel time between the city centers of two largest cities of the country up to 4 hours. Currently, YHT trains operate 22 daily trips based from its central hub in Ankara, in addition to more trips on the Istanbul–Konya high-speed railway that bypass Ankara.

YHT currently operates on two main lines: the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway, and Ankara–Konya high-speed railway. In total, these lines connect 8 provincial capitals out of 81 Provinces in Turkey, namely Adapazarı (via Arifli), Ankara, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Istanbul, İzmit, Karaman and Konya. There are currently ongoing construction projects aiming to link up at least 6 more provincial capitals, including third and fourth largest cities of the country İzmir and Bursa, besides Afyonkarahisar, Edirne, Kayseri, Sivas and other potential cities. Further ambitions at the planning stage eventually aim to link up East and West points of the country through high-speed railways and act as an international High-speed railway bridge across Europe and Asia

On 13 March 2009, the first phase of the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway entered service between Ankara and Eskişehir. On 25 July 2014, the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed line services began to reach the Pendik railway station on the Asian side of Istanbul, Uysa[7]

On 23 August 2011, the YHT service on the Ankara–Konya high-speed railway was inaugurated. The Konya-Ankara line was later connected with the Istanbul–Ankara line at the Polatlı district of Ankara Province on 23 March 2013, essentially bypassing the city of Ankara and shortening the distance from Istanbul to Konya to 5 hours. Most recently on 8 January 2022, the Konya line was extended into another provincial capital, Karaman.

High-speed rail in Turkey is still developing, with new lines currently under construction or in the planning phase. By 2023, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure expects Turkey's high-speed rail system to increase to 10,000 kilometers. [htt[8] Mainline service includes 2 types of trains: Express and Blue Train.

Express service is between major cities and are fast, comfortable and equipped with modern air-conditioned TVS2000 railcars and only stop at important stations. Express trains have an average operating speed of 100 km/h to 120 km/h. Express service has both day (e.g. İzmir-Bandırma) and overnight trains between major cities far apart (e.g. Ankara-Kars). These trains have coaches, a dining car and a sleeping car or a couchette car, or sometimes both.

The TVS2000 railcars used on mainline service are the most comfortable cars in TCDD's entire fleet. TVS2000 railcars may also be used on international services because international services are considered mainline services within Turkey.

International services

Former international services

The Haydarpaşa Terminal was the terminus for a weekly train, to Tehran in Iran, another train to Iran used to travel between Van, Turkey and Tebriz in Iran.<ref name=[9]

Additionally, trains from Iran to Syria (and vice versa) used to pass through Turkey.<ref name=

• Trans-Asia Express, to Tehran, Iran via İzmit, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara, Kayseri, Sivas, Elazığ, Tatvan (train-ferry), Van and Tabriz.
• Van-Tebriz Treni (Van – Tabriz train) Route: Van, Özalp, Kapıköy, Razi, border crossing to Iran, Salmas, Tabriz (and back.)

• Tehran – Damascus Train, route: Tehran, Tabriz, Razi, Kapıköy, border crossing to Turkey, Van, (train-ferry), Tatvan, Muş, Elazığ, Malatya, Fevzipaşa, Islahiye, Meydanekbez, Turkey – border crossing to Syria, (via Chemins de Fer Syriens) – Meidan Ekbis, Aleppo, Damascus (and back.) This service was interrupted when the border between Syria and Turkey was closed due to the Syrian civil war.
• Gaziantep – Baghdad: This service was indefinitely suspended since 13 March 2003 with the invasion of Iraq and the ongoing insurgency. Route: Turkey: Gaziantep, Karkamış, Akçakale, Ceylanpınar, Şenyurt, Nusaybin, border crossing to Syria, Al Qamishli, (via Chemins de Fer Syriens), border crossing to Iraq, El-Yaribieh, Rabia, Mosul, Baghdad. It was also running from Istanbul to Gaziantep as mainline until 2003. It is begun again on 16 August 2012 between Eskişehir-Adana {{cite[11]
• Dostluk/Fillia Express (IC 90/91), to Thessaloniki, Greece via Uzunköprü, Pythion and Alexandroupolis.The line however was eventually terminated in February 2011.

Regional services

Commuter services

As of 2011, the Turkish State Railways operated commuter rail in Istanbul and Ankara, with previous commuter service in İzmir from up to 2006, which is now operated by İZBAN. The railways use the E14000 and the E23000 EMUs on their commuter services. Previously, the newly retired E8000 EMUs and the E4000 electric locomotives were used as well. The first commuter rail service in Turkey was the Istanbul-Halkalı Line on the European side of Istanbul, operating from Sirkeci Terminal to Halkalı in 1955. [http://[12] {{cite we[13] Approximately 50% of freight moved is minerals or ores, with construction materials increasing to ≈10% in 2000 from less than 5% in 1980, food/agricultural products, chemicals/petroleum, and metal sectors each account for between 5 and 10%. International freight accounted for approximately 5% of totals in 2000.<ref name="wb1"/[14] 2.1 million tons of rail freight belong to international traffic. Most of international traffic is between Turkey and Europe, done via Kapikule. Several container trains are running in this route as well as conventional wagons. Uysal, Onur[15]

Containers are widely used both in international and domestic transportation. 7.6 million tons are carried in containers. TCDD supports transportation by containers. Thus, almost all of the private railway companies invested in container wagons, and carrying 20% of all rail freight by their own wagons. Uysal, Onur[16] TCDD is also constructing 18 logistic centers to enable transportation of more loads by rail.<ref name="Refer[17]

TCDD is planning to increase its transit traffic (11000 to in 2011) by constructing "iron silk road" to connect Europe to Asia. Marmaray is the most important part of this project which was completed in 2015 and now in service. Uysal, Onur[18] Also, plans for another supplying project to Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway, the Kars-Igdir-Nakhcivan high-speed railway has been completed. [http://www[19]

Ports

The State Railways own and operated seven ports throughout the country and has connections to two more ports. The ports TCDD owns are the Port of Haydarpaşa on the [[Aegean Sea], the Port of Mersin on the [[Mediterranean Sea], the Port of Bandırma on the Gulf of İzmit, and the Port of [[Samsun] on the Black Sea. The railways have connections to the Port of Zonguldak, [http://www.ista[23] owned by AKPORT AŞ. In 2004, the privatization of all ports except Haydarpaşa began.

[24] Tender for privatization of Derince Port has also completed and waiting for takeover. Uysal, Onur. [ht[25] (via Çine) and to the Port of Ereğli, which TCDD serviced until 2004.

The ports TCDD owns are the most important in Turkey. The country's five largest ports are owned by the state railways. The Port of Haydarpaşa will soon be decommissioned, when the Marmaray project is complete.

History

Turkish State Railways started an electrification plan in 1953. The plan was to first electrify important suburban lines in Istanbul and Ankara. The main reason for this was the many complaints of citizens living in the city about the pollution of the steam locomotives. The railways chose the standard 25 kV 50 Hz AC system to electrify with. The first line to be electrified was the Sirkeci-Halkalı line on the İstanbul commuter railway. Three electric locomotives were ordered from Alsthom and Jeumont from France as well as several sets of multiple units. Electrification was complete and electric train started to run on December 4, 1955. {{cite web| url=http://[30] The railway is between Gaziantep and Mersin through Adana and Osmaniye. Rönesans Holding [[Mehmet Şimşek The high speed r[31] The Turkish transportation ministry said eight carriages are supposed to commence passenger transportation in 2025.

==== Future pla[32]

Sources

Turkey has chosen to electrify at the conventional 25 kV 50 Hz AC. The first electrified lines were the Istanbul suburban lines on the European side, from Sirkeci to Soğuksu, on 4 December 1955, and in the same period the E8000 electrical multiple units were taken into use. The suburban lines on the Asian side of Istanbul, from Haydarpaşa to Gebze, were electrified in 1969; while the Ankara suburban trains were electrified in 1972, on the line from Sincan to Kayaş.

On 6 February 1977 the tracks from Gebze to Adapazarı were made double track and electrified, allowing the first main line operation of electric trains in Turkey. The line from Arifiye outside Adapazarı to Eskişehir were further electrified in 1989 and in 1993 to Sincan, allowing electric train passages from Istanbul to Ankara. In 1994 the European lines from Istanbul to Edirne, Kapıkule and the Bulgarian border were also electrified. The same year the line from Divriği to İskenderun in eastern Turkey was also electrified, though this line is not connected to the rest of the electrified network. In 2006 the İzmir suburban system was also electrified.

Regions

Railway links with adjacent countries

The following is a list of railway border crossings of Turkey.<ref name=resmiPDF>{{cite web |title[33]

• {{flagicon|Azerbaijan}} Azerbaijan – no direct link – break-of-gauge {{RailGauge|sg}}/{{RailGauge|1520mm}} via Georgia open since 2017 (Kars -Iğdır - Nakhchivan railway construction work officially commenced in April 2025.){{Cn|date=March 2025}}
• {{flagicon|Iran}} Iran – open, via Lake Van train ferry – {{RailGauge|sg}}{{Cn|date=October 2024}}
• {{flagicon|Iraq}} Iraq – no direct link, traffic routed via Syria – {{RailGauge|sg}}
• {{flagicon|Syria}} Syria – closed because of the Syrian civil war – {{RailGauge|sg}}

Logistic centers and yards

TCDD is constructing 18 logistic centers to be completed till 2023 to increase the portion of railway in freight transportation. These centers ([34] Ferry has 5 lines with 800-meter total length.

The other train ferry owned by TCDD would be the Lake Van ferry, connecting Tatvan and Van via Lake Van, Turkey's largest lake. This ferry is a part of the only railway connection between Turkey and Iran, and thereby between Europe and India. Sultan Alparslan and Idris-i Bitlisi are the names of the ferries that operate on the route and are also fully owned by TCDD. {{Cite web |title=Trains of Turkey [35]

There are also commuter rail projects (renewal or new lines) like Marmaray, İzban, Başkentray or Gaziray that are completed.