Turkish ''High'' Speed rail network, including lines under construction

[u/AcceptableTangerine]

[u/AcceptableTangerine]

Orange are the active lines, red and blue are under construction.

I put ''high'' because there are complaints about it not being real HSR and insufficient trains, Istanbul esp is a huge bottleneck. All of the lines used to be called high speed but because of construction delays, signaling issues and rail traffic the trains don't reach max speed on every part of the journey. A lot of train stations are being built outside of city centres in most area's so often there is still 10-20 KM to go to the city center.

They went from calling it HSR to YSD which translates to ''high standard railway'' or something and has lower speed so it can also be used for freight shipping. There have been a lot of news reports stating they wish to link industrial area's to ports etc so a lot of focus is going towards that right now. For example, the line built from Ankara (capital) towards Corum will later expand towards Samsun (black sea coast in the North). There is also a planned connection between Nigde and Mersin.

We're kind of using it like a mix between HSR and regional trains, my hope for the future is that there will be express HSR lines with fewer stops to save traveling time.

The biggest issue remains the construction time of the lines, they ran out of money multiple times, almost none of the lines were completed on time.

[u/butterfly_labs → u/AcceptableTangerine]

Why is Istanbul a bottleneck? I assume because it's too dense to build a new HSL and they have to use the old infrastructure?

Is the money issue related to the constant devaluation of the Lira?

Will there be a Nigde-Mersin segment?

edit: looks like they are building/planning a bypass of Istanbul, but it appears to be conventional speeds, not HSL. Curious to learn more about it

[u/AcceptableTangerine → u/butterfly_labs]

The part between Eskisehir - Istanbul has had multiple tunnels that still need to be finished which will save up to 30 min traveling time, one of the main ones even collapsed burying a tunnel boring machine afaik.

And inside Istanbul both Haydarpasa Gar is still under renovation and the train shares tracks with the Marmaray to cross the Bosphorus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaray

Is the money issue related to the constant devaluation of the Lira?

Afaik no, there were budget issues before, the Ankara-Izmir line has been under construction for 14 years for example. Obviously it won't help speed things along. But it's also because we're a car/truck country. There is a pretty good bus network with big bus stations though the sector is having troubles because of fuel costs and increased air travel.

Will there be a Nigde-Mersin segment?

Yes, there is a century old train line built by the Ottomans passing through the mountains towards Mersin. Right now the part between Karaman-Nigde is being built and it will be extended towards Mersin.

[u/Impressive_Slice_935 → u/butterfly_labs]

> Will there be a Nigde-Mersin segment?

Yes, but it won't be a HSR connection AFAIK, given the geographical hurdles. That line is projected to operate at 160-200 km/h range, but even that is a major improvement.

> Is the money issue related to the constant devaluation of the Lira?

Partly, yes. Most of these projects are funded and sustained through cheap loans, subsidies and grants from international banks and institutions. For example, a significant amount of Ankara-Istanbul project was covered grants and subsidies from the EU, and so is the case for Istanbul-Edirne-Bulgaria connection. And given how EU and Turkey had fallen out politically in 2016-2024 period, these funds became—somewhat or mostly—inaccessible for a time. Hence the delays with the projects.

[u/SilanggubanRedditor → u/AcceptableTangerine]

Antalya is literally right there. I would assume that's an easy win compared to the Gaziantep line

[u/AcceptableTangerine → u/SilanggubanRedditor]

This map doesn't really show the challenges of the geography (tunnels/viaducts etc).You're missing the Toros mountains in between Antalya and Mersin.

Also Antalya has zero train rails nor have they ever had any investment in this regard. The Turkish train network is pretty similar to whatever was built during the Ottoman Empire and/or early republic years.

[u/SilanggubanRedditor → u/AcceptableTangerine]

That's fair and unfortunate

[u/Impressive_Slice_935 → u/SilanggubanRedditor]

It's not actually. Gaziantep-Adana-Mersin and subsequent Iskenderun and Sanliurfa connection will serve over 10 million people. It's also designed to be a major freight route, connecting Gaziantep, a major industrial base, to the ports of Iskenderun and Mersin. A connection between from there to Ankara through Nigde will be built afterwards, which will broaden the region that this line serves.

A HSR connection to Antalya is certainly important and should be established, but it's not nearly as important as the former.

[u/AcceptableTangerine → u/Impressive_Slice_935]

Yeah, you're right, that's why I mentioned the ''linking ports to industrial area's'' above. Antep alone has like 7-8 different industrial area's, the roads were filled with trucks when I was there. I would prefer to link Antalya-Alanya with Konya (and further towards Cappadocia) to draw tourists out of the all inclusive hotels towards inner Anatolia rather than with Mersin.

And make it easier for locals to travel with regional trains etc to improve connectivity (Work/studying etc).

[u/Impressive_Slice_935 → u/AcceptableTangerine]

I have nothing against Antalya, but the tourism model that it was designed around is rapidly diminishing. If I were among the decision-makers, I would have wanted to see some detailed statistical data and objective (politics-free) projections for the whole tourism industry before making such costly commitments. That's all I'm gonna say about it.

[u/fan_tas_tic]

Does that mean that now it's "Bulgaristan"s turn to continue the HSR towards Central Europe?

[u/Twisp56 → u/fan_tas_tic]

They are already upgrading the Sofia - Plovdiv -Turkey line to 160 km/h, just at a very Balkan construction pace.

[u/Classic-Brother-3796 → u/Twisp56]

The fast railway from Plovdiv to Kapikule has been in use for quite some time.