The Turkish State Railways (TCDD) started building high-speed rail lines in 2003. TCDD has branded its high-speed service as Yüksek Hızlı Tren (YHT) which currently operates on three lines: the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway and the Ankara–Konya high-speed railway and the Ankara-Sivas high-speed railway. YHT is the only high-speed rail service in Turkey, with two types of EMU train models operating at speeds of up to (HT65000) or (HT80000).
On 13 March 2009, the first phase of the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway entered service between Ankara and Eskişehir. On 25 July 2014, the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway services began to reach the Pendik railway station on the Asian side of Istanbul, and on 13 March 2019 the services began to reach the Halkalı railway station on the European side of Istanbul, passing through the Marmaray railway tunnel under the Bosphorus strait. There were initially 6 daily departures in both directions.
On 23 August 2011, the YHT service on the Ankara–Konya high-speed railway was inaugurated and on 26 April 2023 the 405 km long Ankara-Sivas high-speed railway started operations.
High-speed rail in Turkey is still developing, with new lines currently under construction or in the planning phase. By 2023, the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure expects Turkey's high-speed rail system to increase to .
Lines in operation
Ankara–Istanbul high-speed line
Prior to the introduction of the high-speed line, the population centres of Istanbul (14 million) and Ankara (5 million) were connected by a long railway line, of which only was double-tracked. The whole line was electrified, but low radius turns and poor track quality made high-speed rail transport impossible. Prior to the upgrading of this line in 2006, the railway's market share of Istanbul–Ankara passenger transit was 10%, with a travel time of ~6.5 hours.
The Ankara–Istanbul HST line opened on 25 July 2014, with all trains terminating at Pendik, which is 1 hour by bus from Kadikoy in the eastern suburbs of Istanbul. There are 12 trips per day and the journey takes 3.5 hours. All trains stop at Eskişehir and İzmit.
Design and construction
The high-speed railway connects the county's largest metropolises, Ankara the capital and conurbation of Istanbul via Eskişehir, with a junction at Polatlı to the Ankara-Konya high-speed line.
The railway link was built by a Chinese-Turkish consortium, which was formed when the China Railway Construction Corporation and the China National Machinery Import and Export Corporation won the bid in 2005 to build the railway line in partnership with two Turkish companies, Cengiz Construction and Ibrahim Cecen Ictas Construction.
The line is long, double tracked, electrified, and signalled, to ETCS level 1 standard and is independent of the original Ankara to Istanbul line. The design speed is .
The first part of the line to be constructed (Phase 1) was the Ankara–Eskişehir section, specifically between Sincan and İnönü, scheduled to open in 2006.
The second phase was scheduled to open in 2008 and included more difficult terrain which covers the path between İnönü and Köseköy, extending to Gebze close to Istanbul. The service in this line is expected to start on 25 July 2014. A part of the route has not been completed yet by the time of opening, so conventional line will be used until the completion of the project.
Operation and rolling stock
The Ankara to Eskişehir section officially opened on 13 March 2009.
The line is operated by the Turkish State Railways, using the TCDD HT65000 six-car train sets constructed by the Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles (CAF) of Spain.
On 13 November 2009, a high-speed train derailed near Eskişehir.
On 25 July 2014, Istanbul–Ankara high-speed train service started. The stretch has not completed yet, thus service is partially using conventional line, which causes a little longer trip than the target. 8 trains depart every day in both directions. Final station in Istanbul is temporarily Pendik, a district in east of Istanbul. Several public-transport connections are organized to access the HST trains.
In addition to 11 sets of CAF used in Ankara–Eskişehir and Ankara–Konya routes, TCDD had bought seven Siemens Velaro sets for the Ankara–Istanbul line, open by the end of 2013.
TCDD had also opened a new tender for 106 new sets to be supplied in 5 years and used in new-added lines. This tender was cancelled and redone in 2018.
Ankara–Konya high-speed line
The second high-speed line construction project in Turkey was a line from Polatlı on the Ankara to Istanbul line to Konya.