Railways in
Türkiye
High Speed EMU HT80101 of TCDD near Ankara.
The train is a Siemens Velaro TR built in Germany.
The first public railway in present day Türkiye, in fact the first railway in the Ottoman Empire, ran its inaugural train in 1858 from Alsancak station in İzmir. Sources differ as to how far it ran, and whether or not regular services began immediately afterwards. It does seem clear that regular services from İzmir at least as far as Torbalı (about 43km) were in operation by 1860. Like most subsequent railway development in the country, it was built to standard (1435mm) gauge. The route now forms part of the main line to Aydin.
The first railway on the European side of the Bosporus opened in 1888, connecting Constantinople (present day İstanbul) via Greece and the Balkan countries with western Europe and allowing the inauguration of the Orient Express through train from Paris the following year. In 1971, a new railway was constructed via Kapıkule, more or less paralleling the original line but giving a direct border crossing with Bulgaria without passing through Greece. The original line remains open for traffic to and from Greece.
The State railway company was formed on the creation of the Turkish Republic in the 1920s. The existing railways were brought under State control during the next few years. In the 1930s, although railways on the western side of the Bosporus were well developed and connected to the continenal European network, in Asia Minor coverage was much more patchy and erratic. In consequence, a new period of railway development was embarked upon.
An international link with Armenia was effectively created in 1920/21 when the Kars region was assigned to Türkiye by treaty. Kars was served by an existing Russian gauge (1520mm) line from Tiflis (present day Tbilisi). However this line was to remain isolated from the rest of the Turkish network until 1939, when a 750mm gauge line was opened from Erzerum to Kars; this was converted to standard gauge in 1957. The cross border link closed in 1993 following conflicts in the Caucasus region.
A long-projected link with Iran opened in 1971. Prior to that, travel to the east had only been possible via the USSR, or via Syria and Iraq. The new route, despite the interruption of a train ferry across Lake Van, holds considerable potential as an overland freight route between Europe and Asia.
In 2013, a new train ferry service commenced between Samsun on the Black Sea and Kavkaz in Russia. In order to accommodate Russian rail vehicles, a network of 1520mm gauge lines was installed in Samsun port. This service ceased for a time during the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent Russian invasion of Ukraine, but is believed to have since resumed. Amother train ferry, between Trabzon and Sochi, Russia, started in 2023.
The crossing of the Bosporus at İstanbul, connecting the European and Asian parts of the rail network, was provided a train ferry until the construction of a new rail tunnel under the strait, completed in 2013 and opened for commuter services, long distance passenger and freight traffic in 2014.
In 2014 a 533km High Speed Rail link was completed between İstanbul and Ankara, followed by a 314km branch to Karaman in 2022. Other lines are under construction or planned.
An new international link with Georgia was opened in 2017. This provides an alternative route to Azerbaijan and its Caspian Sea oil terminals, bypassing the closed former link via Armenia.
In 2025, work began on a new 224km line from Kars via Igdir and the Dilucu Border Gate to Naxçıvan, Azerbaijan.
In 2026, it was announced that funding had been obtained for the Northern Railway Crossing Project, a new 126km double track main line forming a second rail connection between networks east and west of the Bosporus. It is expected to run via the existing Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge.
© 2004-2026 Glyn Williams
Photo image by Mikhail Krivyy from Wikimedia Commons