at the
ATG terminal in
Ankara. terminal in
Ankara is a hub for the
YHT services of the
Turkish State Railways In 2022, Turkey had 21% of the network was electrified and 28% signalled. Due to the mountainous geography of the country, the network has many steep gradients and sharp curves. The Turkish rail network does not cover all major cities; its fourth and fifth largest metropolitan areas of
Bursa and
Antalya respectively remain unconnected to the network, although plans exist for high-speed rail lines to reach them. As of June 2016, there is of conventional railway line and of
high-speed railway line. of the network is electrified (31%), and of it is signaled (37%). Electrified lines run from
Kapıkule on the Bulgarian border via Istanbul to Ankara, and from
Divriği via
Malatya to
İskenderun on the Mediterranean coast. As of August 2024, there are eight high-speed routes (Istanbul-Ankara, Istanbul-Konya, Istanbul-Karaman, Istanbul-Sivas Ankara-Eskisehir, Ankara-Konya, Ankara-Karaman, Ankara-Sivas) running on three different high-speed railway lines. Bursa, İzmir and Edirne are among some of other cities to be connected to the high-speed network with works being underway. Bursa will be connected to the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway, a new line is currently being constructed from Polatlı to İzmir via Afyon is under construction along with some other lines from
Yerköy (on the line from Ankara to Sivas) to
Kayseri and another one from
Halkalı to
Edirne on Turkey's European border with
Bulgaria.
Passenger transport In addition to high speed lines, there are several regular trains for passenger transportation. Almost all the network is covered by these passenger trains, which are mostly departing every day. In addition to high speed trains, there are several types of wagons being used for railway transport like pulman, sleeping cars, couchette, dmu and emu sets. In 2019, 164.7 million passengers used the Turkish rail network. As of May 2016, there are several construction points (mainly for signalization or electrification) in Turkish rail network which is causing complete or partial closures.
Railway links with adjacent countries West neighboring countries •
Bulgaria – open – – 25 kV, 50 Hz AC •
Greece – open – – 25 kV, 50 Hz AC (but no trains running since February 2011 due to
economic crisis in Greece)
East neighboring countries •
Georgia – open –
break-of-gauge / at
Akhalkalaki (
Georgia) •
Armenia – closed –
break-of-gauge / (see the
Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway line) •
Azerbaijan – no direct link –
break-of-gauge / via Georgia
(see the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway line), via Iran (toward Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic). •
Iran – via
Lake Van train ferry – The
Iranian rail network is connected to the Turkish rail network via the
Lake Van train ferry close to the border – which creates a serious bottleneck. For the Caucasus region and Central Asia via Georgia and Azerbaijan, the
Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway) was finally opened in 2017, involving a break of gauge from to . The line has a target of transporting 17 million tons of cargo per year. This railway by-passes the
Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway line that connected Turkey to Armenia but was closed in 1993 during the
First Nagorno-Karabakh War; in 2009 the possibility of re-opening the line was stated by the Armenian transport minister.
South neighboring countries •
Iraq – no direct link, traffic routed via Syria – •
Syria – closed because of the
Syrian civil war – Trains to
Iraq must be routed via Syria; the section of the tracks within Syria, between the Turkish and Iraqi borders is 81 km long. From 5 March 2012 due to the
civil war in Syria, all rail services from Turkey to Syria were stopped; as a consequence freight going from Turkey to Iraq was routed to
Nusaybin in southeast Turkey, from where it was transported to Iraq by truck. == Planned expansion ==