Rail Turkey En

In my experience, people will use trains if there is a reliable, user-friendly service with easy to access information (timetables for instance), fare choices, maps of the system (as on the London Underground, most stations in Britain and websites/apps like National Rail Enquiries). Otherwise they will find some other means of transport. I would love to travel by train from Istanbul to Ankara, but not unless I can leave from Haydarpasa, All too problematic and difficult for the tourist!

Another slight problem with the timetable information on the TCDD website as regards regional trains is that, for example, if I wanted to check the times of trains from Basmane to Torbali, I would need to look at 5 different files to get the whole picture: Basmane – Denizli. Basmane – Nazilli; Basmane – Soke; Basmane – Tire and Basmane – Odemis. If I want to make the short journey from Aydin to Nazilli, I still need to check 4 files. From the point of view of a traveller, I don’t see the point in listing the Basmane – Nazilli services separately from Basmane – Denizli, although it maybe suits administrators.

What has been achieved with the IZBAN system is impressive, but the system is plagued by a problem common to many urban systems: long journeys (Aliağı to Alsancak, for example) are tedious with the many stops. This reminds me of what it is like travelling from Heathrow Airport to central London on the Piccadilly Line. There needs to be consideration for the provision of express/limited stop services and this will certainly be necessary to encourage tourists to use the IZBAN for places such as Selçuk and Bergama. The IZBAN is also a way to access Foca (combined with ESHOT bus services) but would be more attractive with an express service.