We’d like to help you for your questions about train travel.
Please keep in mind that we are not a call center working for TCDD Tasimacilik or any other operator, and we cannot help you for ticketing or reservation problems.
You can write your question at the bottom of this page, in “questions/comments” box.
Rail Turkey En 
Hello, I bought two tickets online through the website https://ebilet.tcddtasimacilik.gov.tr, I received the tickets in pdf format along with the QR code by email.
Please let me know if I have to pick up the tickets at the station, or can I just print them from the email I received?
Thank you in advance,
Fuad
You don’t have to pick up, you don’t have to print. Just show the mail.
Thank you for your reply, if I have not misunderstood you, when the railway officials ask me for the ticket, is it enough to present the tickets by phone in pdf format that were sent to me by email?
Yes exactly
Hello, can anyone tell that are there train networks functional nowadays from Istanbul to Moscow now a days, provided the given situation and Russian relation with the west?
There’s only one international train service from Turkey: Istanbul-Sofia. Train to Moscow was running in very old times.
Is the Güney Kurtalan Ekspresi still operating with Sleeper Cars? I can only see sleepers until October 17th. After that the train only shows Pullman and 4-person compartments.
Yo have right. Nothing announced so far. Same with Vangolu Express. It may be preparation for starting touristic trains on those routes. In Dogu Express, as touristic started, the sleepers in classic were cancelled. Or since winter is coming, sleepers may start to be sold only via touristic agencies. As soon as we learned what’s going on, we’ll publish it at Rail Turkey.
Do you need to present your passport to get on a train from Istanbul to Eskisehir?
Yes, a valid id is a must.
A friend in Turkey has bought me a return ticket from Istanbul to Eskishir. All details are correct except for my date of birth which she got wrong. Obviously I will have my passport with me. Will my ticket be valid?
No, it won’t be a problem. What staff checks is name.
Hello,
Does the Sofia-Istanbul Express run the whole month of December? On https://www.bdz.bg/en/a/sofia-istanbul-sofia I found timetables only until the 10th of December.
Railway operators meet annually to determine international schedules. That date must be given upon that. There may be a change on timetable by December, but not any plan to stop the service has been announced so for.
Hello! We are traveling with our dog. Our dog is a large breed, but calm and non-aggressive. Is it allowed to travel on trains with a dog? What are the rules for this? We are interested in the Istanbul-Eskisehir route.
Hi Vika. See rules on https://railturkey.org/travel/train-and-travel-details/2/
Hi, I’m about to buy a ticket for fast train from ankara to istanbul but I can’t bring my passport on the day of travel, can I bring a copy/scan/picture of my passport with me for the check in? thank you
It says “valid id”, so normally no.
Hello, The Dogu Touristic Espressi train page states that it will operate from December 2022 to March 2023. Does this mean that it will not operate after March in 2023? Thank you
It’s working around during that period every year.
Thank you. Is the classic Dogu very busy in May? I was thinking of asking an authorised travel agent to reserve tickets for me. Is there a travel agent that specialises in Dogu Express?
My apologies – I am confused. I see another comment which says it runs all year long:
27 Mar 22 at 23:47
Hi there, do you know whether the touristic Dogu express is available all year around? I don’t see any options for April and may. Thank you!
REPLY
Onur Uysal
27 Mar 22 at 23:54
Hi. Yes it’s available all year long, but tickets are on sale 30 days prior to departure.
Can you please confirm if the Touristic Dogu will be available in May 2022? Thank you.
The policy changed for touristic. It runs only during winter. Classic runs all year long.
Couchettes of Dogu Express are very hard to find all year long.
With regard to your reply to Yvonne, can you tell us on which dates “Official Winter” starts and finishes for the Touristic Dogu Express, please?
Start date is 12th of December for 2022. End date is not announced, but expected to be March like last year.
Thank you for that swift reply!
Hello, I’m planning to travel (one way) down to Isparta from Istanbul.
Can you advise me on which routes I should be taking? The TCDD ticketing website is a bit too complex to navigate!
There are 2 only-by-train options: Istanbul to Eskisehir early in the morning by HST. To Denizli by Pamukkale Express. Have a lunch at Denizli and wait at station till very early morning. Take Goller Express. 2nd option is take Ege Express to Izmir at Eskisehir. Then take Goller at Izmir. 2nd option seems easier due to perfect timing and no waiting, but any delay of Ege may cause 24 hour delay. Well Izmir is a nice city to spend some time though.
Hello. We are trying to purchase tickets for the Dogu express. Do you know when tickets for the last week in December will become available? We are looking to book for the 29th December but as you mentioned tickets become available a month in advance, we are concerned when we checked 23,24,25 December it returns there is “no trip in accordance with your request “. Can you kindly guide us with the best way to secure tickets for the 29 December- Kars to Ankara. We are traveling all the way from South Africa and would really not want to miss out on this experience. Your assistance will be appreciated.
Try checking for rail tickets online instead of the app. I found more options on the website.
Hello,
May I know when the train bookings from 11th Dec, 2022 will start in the TCDD website. I’ve been trying to book for 12th December since the past 20 days, but it hasn’t been opened yet. They say it opens 30 days prior, but no update on the site yet.
Anybody has any information on this? Would really appreciate any help. Thanks in advance.
It’s not usual. Most probably there’ll be a change. Price or timetable.
I would also appreciate any information regarding purchasing tickets. We are trying to book for the 29th December.
Hi, may i know the fare for istanbul to bucharest? Bosphor express
how can i travel from sultan ahmet area to train station early in the morning time.
By tram or walk from Sultanahmet to Sirkeci. By Marmaray to Sogutlucesme or Halkali.
Are there any travel disruptions between Ankara and Istanbul due to security reasons?
No. Never had been.
Hello Sir, This’s Vic,
from Al Khobar Saudi Arabia.
family and I are planning to go to Istanbul and from Istanbul to Tbilisi via train.
after long research, I just know Doğu Ekspresi goes from Ankara to Kars,
could you please help me know other options for the remaining journey from Kars to Tbilisi?
Hi Vic. You’ll have to go by bus from Kars to Hopa, then on to Batumi via the border crossing at Sarp. From Batumi you can take the train to Tbilisi.
Hello there, I was wondering if there is any way to go to Ankara from Hatay on a train.
Complicated and taking long time. The closest station is at Iskenderun, where you can go by bus or minibus. There only train is Iskenderun-Mersin train, where From Adana, Erciyes Express will take you to Kayseri. From there, a couple of trains (Dogu, Kurtalan, Vangolu, 4 Eylul) can be taken for Ankara.
hi – planning a trip to istanbul and was trying work out how to buy/reserve ticket on the train to Sofia – is it possible to book by telephone
Unfortunately not. Maybe you can look for an agency.
What time does the Pendik high speed train station open?
First train from station is at 06:38. It must be open around 06:00 in the morning.
Hey, I want to go to from Istanbul to Bucharest in February. If I am correct, I can take a train from Istanbul to Dimitrovgrad and then go via Gorna Oryahovitsa and Ruse to Bucharest. Is this correct and if so, can I book this entire route at an TCDD office? I was also wondering if the Balkan Flexipass would be an option for that (and traveling onwards in Romania) and if you could share updated prices. I love this website and thank you for your help in advance!
Hi. Yes you can take Sofia Express from Istanbul to Dimitrovgrad. Unfortunately, I have no firm info about servies between Bulgaria and Romania. But you can not book any train in TCDDT offices which is not running from/to Turkey.
Hi
Planning to visit your country Turkiye in mid may this year.
My question is whether I can catch a YHT high speed train from Sogutlucesme Station to Eskisehir? Thank for your help Ted
Yes you can. Note that seats are sold out days ago.
Hi everyone!
I’m visiting Turkey in a week and trying to buy high speed train tickets from Istanbul Sogutlucesme to Eskisehir from TCDD website. The website shows that there are multiple tickets available for Feb 19th. Yet after filling out my card info it shows a mistake window which says “Bank payment failure”. My card is active and works. Been trying to purschase those tickets for 3 days now and keep getting the same error.
The strange thing is also the fact that a week ago I successfully bought tickets from TCDD website. They were for Mavi Treni (from Eskisehir to Izmir).
Is there any common problem with buying YHT trains tickets?
Would be grateful for any help.
Veronika
Hi Veronika. A new ticketing system is online since a week. Old one is ebilet.tcddtasimacilik.gov.tr and new one is bilet.tcdd.gov.tr. Pls try the other one from which you got failure msg. And we’ll be glad if you can inform us about the result.
thank you ted
Hi Onur, thank you very much for your quick response.
Unfortunately neither of those websites works, keep getting the same mistake: “Failed operation! Check your card information.”
The mobile app shows the same error.
Just checked and bought tickets for some museum in Izmir and it was successful. So it’s probably not the card’s fault…
I can buy those tickets in person at a train station in a week, of course, my only concern is that they might be sold out at that point 😦
Hi again. Many travellers from abroad complained about failures of credit card in TCDDT website, but available for one train and not for another is the first time for me. HSTs are usually full, but if you travel alone (or can travel in different seats) and have flexibility in terms of days and times, you can find seats in YHTs in last 3-4 days. Old website (ebilet.XXX) allows reservation, but due time is not long. If it works, you can at least save a couple of days. Btw, how did you overcome mobile number issue when you bought last ticket??
Onur, thank you. I will continue trying, maybe at some point it will be fixed.
I am travelling with my partner and we are pretty flexible. We’ll figure out the solution 🙂
Yes, I’ve tried to reserve the seats, but the site says that “No travel solution found, try again by changing departure and arrival stations/dates”. Yet the tickets are available for purchasing…
Regarding the number – that time when we successfully managed to buy tickets, we put some random digits in there. It worked.
Good luck. Turkisk mobile format is 0 5XX XXX XX XX mostly starting with 532-542-505-555
Like Veronika, I also am getting Failed Operation when trying to book. I’ve tried on the old website, the new website, and the app. I have tried with 3 different credit cards and 1 debit card. I also tried calling my bank but they don’t even see it on their end.
If anyone has any tips, it would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Mark!
I am happy to share that today I managed to buy the tickets! I used the new website bilet.tcdd.gov.tr that Onur mentioned above. Apparently they fixed the problem. Give it a try!
Veronika
👍👏👏
Nice! I am still getting the error message on both the new website and the old. Veronika, do you mind sharing what type of Credit Card you were successful with? I have only Visa cards and perhaps this is the problem.
Was just able to book! Tried a different card and it worked. Used the old website.
Glad it finally worked for you too Mark! Mine is MasterCard. Did your Visa worked in the end?
Yes! Tried an old Visa and for some reason that worked.
Hello is it possible for polish turists to put in their ID’s number instead of passeport number in the train ticket ?
For tickets that are released 30 days in advance, at what time of day are they typically released? Need to know for tickets that get snapped up fast.
It’s a quarter past midnight in Turkey and the last available date is the same as six hours ago, the new day has not opened yet.
Answering my own question: At 1:30am the day wasn’t available, at 2:30 it was.
Another question: is the TATVAN- ANKARA train not operating at the moment?
Searching the calendar on Tuesdays and Thursdays (and all other days) and the new site is coming up empty, not showing any trains.
Between Ankara and Kars, which stations would be good places t get off the train, spend a day and get on the next train?
I’d suggest Kayseri, Sivas and Erzurum. Note that it would be quite hard to find ticket for couchette for such a trip, be prepared for travel on seat.
Three of us plan to take the Doğu Ekspresi in July from Ankara to Erzurum, and since there are apparently no sleeping cars anymore on this train, we will want a couchette compartment. We would like our privacy and book all four bunks in a compartment. How do you think we should make our booking for this phantom fourth person, since the TCDD website asks for name and other information for all passengers? Or, should we use a travel agency to make our booking?
Hi. I guess there’s no problem about taking two tickets for one person with same info. If system rejects, you can put one letter additionally. But note that it’s not easy to find empty room and sometimes payment becomes a headache, thus using travel agency may be an alternative in such a case.
Thank you, Onur. We may well use a travel agency for the Doğu Ekspresi in July.
I read where the Ankara-Sivas YHT line will open “soon” (April? May? June?) Has there been any announcement yet as to whether the Doğu Ekspresi will take this shorter route on its way to Erzurum and Kars?
I guess it’ll be opened before electin, so in May at the latest. But it’s just a guess. Usage of mainline trains on HST lines has never happened until now. I don’t expect such a shift for Ankara-Sivas line either. Dogu Express is being used to travel between cities/towns on way, so HST usage will not be prefered also for that.
Hello,
I wish to travel from Istanbul to Izmir in June. If possible I would like to travel by sleeper train. Which is the best or quickest route, please.
Thank you
Matt
Hello Onur, We wish to travel from Kayseri to Amasya. Could you please advise options for connecting trains and times at Sivas? I can’t find the departure times for the Samsun Sivas train at all. Thank you, Yvonne.
Unfortunately there’s no Samsun Sivas service. You need to get on bus.
Thank you for your reply Onur. That explains why I couldn’t find The connecting times, ha ha. Cheers,
Yvonne
Hello
I am trying to buy ticket from istanbul to ankara through EYBIS.
However, I couldnt use my credit card issued outside Turkey.
Doesn’t EYBIS accept international credit card?
Thanks in advance
Haru
That’s a problem travellers from outside Turkey frequently faces. I guess some credit cards not accepted. Try another if you have. No official explanation stated by TCDDT about that.
Hi Onur
Thank you for your quick response.
I didn’t older posts regarding this issue.
Again, Im trying three credit cards (VISA, VISA, MASTER) through new and old websites.
However, I haven’t been able to buy ticket unfortunately,
Haruo
Hello
Is the Vangolu Ekspresi & the Gurney Ekspresi still operating since the earthquakes.
I see that tickets are available for sale but just wondering as both trains stop at Malatya.
Thank you
Susan
The problems around Malatya quickly resolved. Trains are running full path.
Thank you Onur
Sent from my iPhone
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Onur I forgot to ask – if I take the Vangolu Ekspresi to Tatvan will I still be able to get to Van by the ferry?