Turkish State Railways is expected to introduce new train services in forthcoming months.

Here are those services:

Izmir Mavi again on its own route

Due to engineering works of Baskentray, Izmir Mavi had started to run between Eskisehir and Izmir. The train is expected to start running on its original route, Ankara-Izmir, starting from mid November.

3 new trains in December

Government published 3 new train services in May 2018. They are expected to start in new period, startin with mid December. These 3 lines are:

• Cukurova Express (Ankara-Adana)
• Goller Express (Izmir-Isparta)
• 4 Eylul Mavi (Ankara-Malatya)

Trains at Istanbul city center in January

In January, 2nd phase of Marmaray is expected to be commissioned. By that time, Bostanci, Sogutlucesme and Haydarpasa will again start hosting trains after years. Here are the trains to arrive city center:

• Istanbul Ankara high speed train
• Istanbul Konya high speed train
• Ada Express (Istanbul-Adapazari)

European side meets HSTs

As Marmaray is commissioned, some high speed trains are expected to cross Bosphorus via Marmaray tunnel and reach Halkali. So it’ll be possible to travel to Ankara and Konya from Halkali. 

Sirkeci again

Turkey’s only international train departing daily whole year, Sofia Express, is counting days to start departing from Old City, from Sirkeci again. As Marmaray is commissioned, we’ll hear sound of trains again at Sirkeci.

Samsun and Amasya in first quarter

The engineering works at Samsun-Kalin stretch will be commissioned in first quarter of 2019. There are 4 trains on the list to run on that strech: Amasya-Hacibayram, Amasya-Havza, Samsun-Sivas and Samsun-Amasya. As engineering works completed, these trains are expected to start service one after the other.

Cover photo: Dusko Djuric ©