Turkish State Railways

A new high-speed train service has been launched between the capital Ankara and the Central Anatolian province of Sivas.

The train will depart from Ankara's high-speed train station and pass through the nearby provinces of Kırıkkale and Yozgat before it reaches Sivas, Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu informed at the new line's inauguration ceremony.

Türkiye plans to increase the number of high-speed train services in the face of rising demand, Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu has said.

The number of those train services will increase from the current 44 to 56 starting Sept. 10, while passenger capacity will be boosted by 5,200, according to the minister.

Europe's first cross-continental train, the Orient Express shuttling between Paris and Istanbul has arrived in Türkiye after a three-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

The train departing from Paris visited Budapest, Bucharest, Varna and the northwestern Turkish province of Edirne before arriving in Istanbul.

Turkey's Eastern Express has served more than 12,000 travelers since the service resumed in late December last year.

The Eastern Express runs 1,310 kilometers between Ankara and the eastern province of Kars, a journey that takes more than 30 hours.

As of today, the movement of the international train traveling between Sofia and Istanbul is restored. This became clear after the management of BDZ (Bulgarian Railways) and the Turkish Railways (TCDD) agreed to start the train again before the start of the summer season.

The Touristic Eastern Express that runs from Ankara to the eastern province of Kars will resume operations, which were halted in March 2020, in December.

The train will depart from Ankara on Dec. 15, said Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu in a written statement. 

Covering one of the longest routes in Turkey and offering over 24 hours of train travel, the Eastern Express resumed its services after a suspension due to coronavirus-related restrictions in the country.

A net 370,000 tons of goods have been transported via the Marmaray tunnel that connects Istanbul's Asian and European sides in a year, according to numbers of the TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş. of the Transportation Ministry.

Turkey has resumed high-speed train services between four provinces as previously announced.
At a ceremony in the capital Ankara on May 28, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu called the move another important step in the country's move towards normalization.

The high-speed train services will resume in Turkey as of May 28 after they have been suspended as part of coronavirus precautions, a government official said on May 23. 

In a written statement, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu said the train services suspended on March 28 will resume in four routes with 16 services in a day.