photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:High_Speed_Rail_Turkey.PNG/High speed railway in Turkey
Turkey has belonged on the railway map of Europe since the famous time of Orient Express. In its time, this train was a symbol of luxury travel, traveling with this train was fancy thing. The train ended its journey in the Sirkeci station, which is right on the sea shore of Bosphorus in the European part of Istanbul. Nowadays, we could barely find any evidence of rail transport here.
Turkey has belonged on the railway map of Europe since the famous time of Orient Express. In its time, this train was a symbol of luxury travel, traveling with this train was fancy thing. The train ended its journey in the Sirkeci station, which is right on the sea shore of Bosphorus in the European part of Istanbul. Nowadays, we could barely find any evidence of rail transport here.
All that was left, was a small museum of the Orient Express and an underground entrance to the Marmaray Railway. It connects European and Asian part of Istanbul and it is connected to the classic rail network of freight and passenger transport. The tunnel under Bosphorus is designed in the way, that makes freight train operation possible.
The history of the acceleration of traffic between the capital Ankara and Istanbul is relatively long. In the past, this was done by the decisions of the ruling generals. It ended as it had to - by train accident, derailed train with many injured and dead.
The Turkish railway company has faced criticism for carrying only a negligible amount of passengers and freight and either will develop a concept for becoming competitive or being abolished. The answer was the high-speed project Istanbul - Ankara with the connection of the city of Konya, which is the spiritual capital of Turkey. Another important project is the Ankara-Izmir track, but the work has been slowed down by Turkey's economic situation and the coronavirus epidemic. Completion is expected in 2025. The Konyaa - Karaman track was launched in 2014 and is expected to be completed this year.
The track between Ankara resp. Konyou and Istanbul works, although in part it uses a conventional modernized track. Journey time is 5 hours and 30 minutes. However, high-speed trains in Istanbul do not end at the traditional centrally located Haydarpasa station, as it used to be, but in the suburbs of Istanbul, from where you can reach the Marmaray or Marmaray railways (e.g. metro). Journey time should be significantly reduced by the end of the year. It is planned to complete the route. Another track under construction in 2012 is the track about the city of Bursa. But now the project is stalled.
Overall, the high-speed rail project in Turkey is one of the local government's priorities, but it is influenced by Turkey's poor economic situation. TCDD is active in the international field, it is active member of High Speed group within UIC.