Turkey has 7 rail border crossings, 4 of which have been kept closed for a long time.
Here are all rail border crossings of Turkey:
In November 2017, Canbaz border station at Turkey-Georgia border opened. Customs process is temporarily being held at Kars station.
Kapikule (open)
It’s the most well-known and used one among all. It’s connecting Turkey to Europe via Bulgaria. Svilengrad is the border station of Bulgaria on the other side of the border.
The rail service between Kapikule and Svilengrad is given by BDZ and other private railway operators. About 1 mn tonnes of freight was transported by rail via Kapikule in 2014.
Istanbul-Sofia passenger train is running through Kapikule.
Passenger train services started from Istanbul to Bucharest and Belgrade during summer in 2017.
Uzunkopru (open)
It’s the second rail border crossing in west of Turkey, 10 km inside the border. It’s connecting Turkey to Greece. Pythion is the border station of Greece on the other side of the border. The rail service between Uzunkopru and Pythion is given by Trainose. The border crossing is open, however, due to the limited usage of rail via this border crossing, Trainose accepts group wagons. This station is currently used only by freight trains.
Islahiye (closed)
Islahiye is one of the three rail border crossings between Turkey and Syria. Islahiye is 24 km inside of the border. Meydanekbez is the border station of Syria on the other side of the border. Islahiye is about 100 km away from Aleppo, used to be the shortest path to western and northern parts of Syria by rail. The rail border is closed due to war in Syria.
Cobanbey (closed)
Cobanbey is another rail border crossing between Turkey and Syria, very near to Ishaliye, alternative way to Aleppo. This border crossing used to be prefered by freight from/to Gaziantep. The rail border is closed due to war in Syria.
Nusaybin (closed)
Nusaybin is the third rail border crossing between Turkey and Syria. It was also the only way for rail freight to Iraq. The rail border is closed due to war in Syria.
Kapiköy (open)
Kapikoy is at Turkey-Iran border, the second busiest rail border crossing of Turkey. It’s not only used by all rail freight to/from Iran but also to/from CIS countires. Razi is Iran’s border station on the other side of the border. The rail service between Kapikoy and Razi is given by Iran Railways (RAI). The border is kept closed temporarily due to the security reasons in Turkey.
About 300k tonnes of freight was transported by rail via Kapikoy in 2014.
There are two passenger trains via Kapikoy, Ankara-Tehran and Van-Tabriz. Both of them are suspended due to security reasons.
Dogu Kapi (closed)
Dogu Kapi is the rail border crossing between Turkey and Armenia, which has been kept closed due to foreign policy of Turkey.
Cover Photo: Eksper Rail ©
Categories: Railway Infrastructure
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