Operators agreed on starting Ankara-Baku overnight train service in August.

In the meeting held in Ankara between TCDDT and Azerbaijan Railways in late April, the details of the overnight train were finalized.

Here are those details:

Train will depart in August

Azerbaijan Railways had already announced the start of the service as 3rd quarter of this year. In the meeting with TCDD, the start date of the service is determined as August.

Weekly service

Azerbaijan Railway’s new Stadler sleeper wagons will be used for this service. The first set with 10 cars were delivered in March via Turkey and Marmaray tunnel. With this one set, the frequency will be once a week in each direction.

Travel time over 40 hours

Travel time was announced as 38 hours before. Based on the experience on the stretch and border crossing, the travel time is updated as slightly over 40 hours. Two operators are still working on decreasing the travel time under 40.

Cheaper than plane, more expensive than bus

Train fares will be between € 50-120. This is less than plane tickets which is around € 130, and over bus tickets which is around € 40.

Mainly couchettes

Train has 53 economy class cabins. These are very similar to TCDDT’s couchettes, where there are 4 berths/cabin. There are one shower and two WCs at the ends of wagon for these passengers.

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Comfort class for families and groups

Most probably, comfort class cabins will be most popular ones, which have 4 berths and private shower/WC between cabins. There are only 4 cabins of comfort class, and are expected to be sold out very quickly.

Luxury coach for couples

One coach of the train will have 8 luxury cabins, where each cabin has 2 berths and private shower/WC.

Special cabin for disabled passengers

There’s a special cabin for disabled passengers with special berth, shower and WC.

Dinning car operated by ADY

TCDDT could not shine out with meals, as Turkish Airlines did. The dining service will be given by Azerbaijan Railways in this train. Lunch and dinner will be served in dining car, where breakfast will be served to cabins.

The train has a capacity of 246 passengers, where dining car has only 28 seats. There’ll surely be a dense traffic in dining car.

Cover photo: Eksper Rail ©