The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure stated that Turkey met the high-speed train 14 years ago, emphasizing that nearly 72 million passengers have been transported by YHTs so far. In the written statement made by the Ministry, it was noted that the first High Speed Train Line was put into service on 13 March 2009 by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who was the Prime Minister of the time. In the statement, which stated that Turkey started YHT operation with the Ankara-Eskişehir Line 14 years ago, “Our country has thus become the 8th YHT operator in the world and the 6th in Europe. Ankara-Konya Line became operational in 2011, and Konya-Istanbul and Ankara-Istanbul Lines became operational in 2014. YHT line length increased to 1241 kilometers. With the commissioning of the Konya-Karaman High Speed Line with a length of 2022 kilometers in 219, YHT service is provided to 8% of the country's population, with the combined transportation carried out directly to 33 cities and 47 percent of the country's population, with YHT + Bus, YHT + Conventional train connection.
FAST AND COMFORTABLE TRAVEL WITH YHTs
Pointing out that the travel time between Ankara and Eskişehir with YHTs has decreased from 4 hours to 1 hour 30 minutes, the travel time between Ankara and Istanbul has decreased from 8 hours to 4 and a half hours, the travel time between Ankara-Konya has decreased to 1 hour 45 minutes, and between Konya-Istanbul has been 4,5 hours. hour was recorded. In the statement, “Until March 2023, 19 million 833 thousand on the Ankara-Eskişehir YHT Line, 18 million 272 thousand on the Ankara-Konya Line, 23 million 783 thousand on the Ankara-Istanbul Line, 8 million 297 on the Konya-Istanbul Line. A total of 847 million 568 thousand passengers traveled, including one thousand passengers on the Ankara-Karaman Line, 145 thousand, 71 thousand on the Istanbul-Karaman Line, and 742 thousand on the Eskişehir-Istanbul Line.
EXPRESS TRAINS STARTED ON JULY 10
Reminding that the express high-speed train (YHT) services started on the Ankara-Istanbul line as of 10 July 2021, it was noted that the express train stopped only in Eskişehir and Istanbul-Pendik. Emphasizing that a total of 56 daily trips are made between Ankara-Istanbul, Ankara-Konya, Ankara-Eskişehir and Istanbul-Konya, Eskişehir-Istanbul, Istanbul-Karaman, Ankara-Karaman, the statement said, “YHTs operate directly from the cities they reach, as well as by YHT and conventional trains. With the combined transportation, where YHT and bus are planned together, the travel time to Kütahya, Tavşanlı, Afyonkarahisar, Denizli, Karaman, Antalya and Alanya is significantly reduced, while more of our cities benefit from the comfort of advanced railway technology.
WE ARE KNITTING TURKEY WITH SPEED TRAIN LINES
In the statement, which also touched on the ongoing high-speed train projects, it was said:
“We are working to knit Turkey with high-speed train lines. High-speed train works continue between Ankara and İzmir. With the completion of the project, the distance between the two cities will be 624 kilometers and the travel time will be reduced to 3 hours and 30 minutes. In addition, the Mersin-Osmaniye-Adana-Gaziantep railway line, which is under construction, is planned to be completed by the end of 2024. With the end of this line, a citizen who takes the high-speed train from Istanbul or Edirne will be able to reach Gaziantep without interruption. Ankara-Sivas line will also be put into service of our citizens in the coming days.”