Rail transport in Turkey

Turkey has a state-owned railway system built to standard gauge which falls under the remit of the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The primary rail carrier is the Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları which is responsible for all long-distance and cross-border freight and passenger trains. A number of other companies operate suburban passenger trains in urban conurbations.
Native railway industry extends to the production of locomotives, passenger vehicles and freight wagons; some vehicles are also produced through licensing agreements and cooperation with foreign countries.
In the early 21st century, major infrastructural projects were realized; such as the construction of a high-speed railway network as well as a tunnel under the Bosphorus strait which connects Europe and Anatolia by rail for the first time.
Turkey is a member of the International Union of Railways. The UIC Country Code for Turkey is 75.

Network

In 2022, Turkey had of railway lines, of which 95% were single-tracked, 21% of the network was electrified and 28% signalled. Due to the mountainous geography of the country, the network has many steep gradients and sharp curves. The Turkish rail network does not cover all major cities; its fourth and fifth largest metropolitan areas of Bursa and Antalya respectively remain unconnected to the network, although plans exist for high-speed rail lines to reach them.
As of June 2016, there is of conventional railway line and of high-speed railway line. of the network is electrified, and of it is signaled.
Electrified lines run from Kapıkule on the Bulgarian border via Istanbul to Ankara, and from Divriği via Malatya to İskenderun on the Mediterranean coast. Additionally, Sivas and İzmir have electrified networks.
Here are some technical informations about the Turkish railway system:

Rail Gauge –
Electrification – 25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead lines
Loading gauge – UIC GC
Traffic – Right-Hand traffic
Pantograph – and
Rail – S49 and UIC 60
Sleepers – Wooden & Steel and Concrete
Fastening – Baseplate based with Screw spikes and Tension Clamp
Platform height –, and
Coupling – Buffers and Chains and Scharfenberg
Brake – Air
Curve minimum – and

High-speed rail lines

The first completed section of the high-speed rail line between Ankara and Eskişehir was opened by the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on 13 March 2009.
As of August 2024, there are eight high-speed routes running on three different high-speed railway lines. Bursa, İzmir and Edirne are among some of other cities to be connected to the high-speed network with works being underway. Bursa will be connected to the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway, a new line is currently being constructed from Polatlı to İzmir via Afyon is under construction along with some other lines from Yerköy to Kayseri and another one from Halkalı to Edirne on Turkey's European border with Bulgaria.
Among the trains used by the Turkhish high speed rail services are Siemens Velaro TR, the same models used in InterCity Express trains in Germany. The Turkish also use the Spanish CAF made TCDD HT65000. In 2025, the high speed network transported 100 million passengers annually.

Passenger transport

In addition to high speed lines, there are several regular trains for passenger transportation. Almost all the network is covered by these passenger trains, which are mostly departing every day. In addition to high speed trains, there are several types of wagons being used for railway transport like pulman, sleeping cars, couchette, dmu and emu sets. In 2019, 164.7 million passengers used the Turkish rail network.
As of May 2016, there are several construction points in Turkish rail network which is causing complete or partial closures.

Railway links with adjacent countries

West neighboring countries

Bulgaria – open – – 25 kV, 50 Hz AC
Greece – open – – 25 kV, 50 Hz AC

East neighboring countries

[Rail transport in Rail transport in Georgia (country)|Georgia (country)|Georgia] – open – break-of-gauge / at Akhalkalaki
Armenia – closed – break-of-gauge /
Azerbaijan – no direct link – break-of-gauge / via Georgia (see the Kars-Gyumri-Tbilisi railway line), via Iran.
Iran – via Lake Van train ferry –

South neighboring countries

Iraq – no direct link, traffic routed via Syria –
Syria – closed because of the Syrian civil war –

Trains to Iraq must be routed via Syria; the section of the tracks within Syria, between the Turkish and Iraqi borders is 81 km long. From 5 March 2012 due to the civil war in Syria, all rail services from Turkey to Syria were stopped; as a consequence freight going from Turkey to Iraq was routed to Nusaybin in southeast Turkey, from where it was transported to Iraq by truck.
The Iranian rail network is connected to the Turkish rail network via the Lake Van train ferry close to the border – which creates a serious bottleneck. In 2007 an agreement was made to create a rail link between the two countries.
A new connection to the Caucasus region and Central Asia via Georgia and Azerbaijan is planned ; the line will involve a break of gauge from to. The construction of the line is planned to be completed by 2014 and has a target of transporting 17 million tons of cargo per year. This railway by-passes the Kars–Gyumri–Tbilisi railway line that connected Turkey to Armenia which was closed in 1993 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War; in 2009 the possibility of re-opening the line was stated by the Armenian transport minister.

Planned expansion

Turkey is planning to construct a high speed line between Anakara and Samsun by 2030. Kırıkkale will be a stop between Ankara and Sivas. By 2026 a high speed line is set to be opened between Ankara and Kayseri. Another line is under construction from Ankara to İzmir on the Aegean coast. Turkey is planning to build a high speed rail line from Istanbul to Edirne as well as to Kapıkule which is on the Bulgarian border and will thus allow Turkey to establish a high speed line with Bulgaria. By 2030 a high speed line is planned between Istanbul and Ankara.

Urban rail

Commuter

Suburban systems in Turkey as listed below:

City	System	Operator	Electrification	Gauge	Bidirectional traffic	Notes
Istanbul	Marmaray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
Istanbul	Rail System	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
Ankara	Başkentray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
İzmir	İZBAN	İZBAN A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
Gaziantep	Gaziray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
Sakarya	Adaray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic
Konya	Konyaray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	Tender phase
Afyon	Afray	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	Planning phase
Kayseri	İncesu-Gömeç Rail System	TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş.	25 kV, 50 Hz AC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	On Hold

Metro

Six cities in Turkey have Metro system, listed as follows:

City	System	Electrification	Conductor system	Gauge	Bidirectional traffic	Opened
Istanbul	Istanbul Metro	750 V DC & 1,500 V DC	Third rail & Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	3 September 1989
Ankara	Ankara Metro	750 V DC	Third rail		Right-hand traffic	20 August 1996
İzmir	İzmir Metro	750 V DC	Third rail		Right-hand traffic	22 April 2000
Bursa	Bursaray	1,500 V DC	Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	24 April 2002
Adana	Adana Metro	750 V DC	Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	14 May 2010
Konya	Konya Metro	750 V DC ??	Overhead line ??		Right-hand traffic	Under construction
Gebze	Gebze Metro	750 V DC ??	Overhead line ??		Right-hand traffic	Under construction
Mersin	Mersin Metro	750 V DC ??	Overhead line ??		Right-hand traffic	Under construction

A further metro system is planned in Gaziantep, and light rail systems are under consideration in both Antalya and Kayseri.

Tram & Light Rail

There are also several tram and light rail systems in many cities, listed as follows:

City	System	Electrification	Gauge	Bidirectional traffic	Opened
Istanbul	Istanbul Tram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	13 June 1992
İzmir	İzmir Tram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	11 April 2017
İzmit	Akçaray	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	17 June 2017
Bursa	Burtram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	13 October 2013
Antalya	AntRay	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	December 2009
Konya	Konya Tram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	28 September 1992
Gaziantep	Gaziantep Tram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	1 March 2011
Kayseri	Kayseray	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	1 August 2009
Samsun	Samsun Tram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	10 October 2010
Trabzon	Trabzon Tram		Planned	Right-hand traffic	Under construction
Eskişehir	Estram	750 V DC Overhead line		Right-hand traffic	24 December 2004

Nostalgic tramway

City	System	Electrification	Conductor system	Gauge	Bidirectional traffic
Istanbul	Istanbul Tram	600 V DC	Overhead line		Partially
Bursa	Burtram	?	Overhead line		Partially
Antalya	Antalya Tram	600 V DC	Overhead line		Partially
Ankara	Ankara National Park Tram	?	?		No

Companies

Turkish State Railways

In combination with its affiliates, the State Railways of the Republic of Turkey have a monopoly on passenger and freight rail transportation, as well as the manufacturing of rolling stock and tracks. The organization was created in 1927 to operate the former railway lines of the Ottoman Empire that were left within the borders of the Republic of Turkey whose boundaries were defined with the Treaty of Lausanne in 1923. Additionally, major ports are also operated by the company.

Affiliated companies

Three affiliated companies of the TCDD produce rolling stock for the Turkish railway system:

TÜLOMSAŞ produces diesel and electric locomotives and related components; the company has produced locomotives under license from numerous companies over the years, including Krauss-Maffei, GM-EMD, Toshiba and Alstom.
TÜVASAŞ manufactures coaching stock as well as diesel hydraulic railcars, and has a technology transfer agreement with Rotem of Korea to manufacture DMUs as well as a joint venture with Rotem, EUROTEM, to outfit and test high-speed train sets and suburban trains.
TÜDEMSAŞ produces and repairs freight wagons.

Statistical information

As of 2021, there were of main railway lines in Turkey, of which 14% are double-track and 51% are electrified.
In 2008, the most common rail weight is ~49 kg/m with 69% of track, the remainder being of lighter weight rail, except for 150 km of 60 kg/m rail. Similarly, 69% of sleepers are of the concrete type, with the remainder being wood and steel. Over 700 tunnels exist, with a total length of 181 km; the majority are under 1 km long and only one of them has a length of over 4 km. 1,316 steel bridges and over 10,000 concrete bridges exist, the majority are suitable for axle loads over 20 t, with 40% allowing axle loads of 22.5 tonnes.
Also in 2008, there were 64 electric locomotives and 549 diesel locomotives in Turkey, with availabilities of 81 and 84 percent, respectively. Additionally, 50 steam locomotives exist, of which 2 are kept in active order. In addition to the 83 EMUs and 44 DMUs for passenger transport, there were 995 coaches in Turkey Over 17,000 wagons of various types make up the rest of the fleet.

Rail gauge in Turkey

All high-speed and main rail lines use standard-gauge railway with the exception of the Bursa and Istanbul nostalgic tramways, which use the metre-gauge railway.

Proposed lines

Kars to Nakhchivan in Azerbaijan