Hızlı Tren/High-Speed Train

[Bill_Miyorum]

Turkish State Railways (TCDD) are upgrading the Istanbul (Haydarpasa) - Eskisehir - Ankara line and have bought some new high-speed passenger trains to run on it.
Does anyone know the scheduled date for the introduction of high-speed passenger services all the way from Haydarpasa to Ankara?
What is the situation at the moment? (High speed from Haydarpasa to Eskisehir and slow from there to Ankara, perhaps?)

[Michael]

Most of the infrastructure (basically a brand new railway) is in place for the Eskişehir to Ankara section; when completed trains will go 250-300km/hr. You see it when you take the Ankara train. But it is not yet in use, my guess would be some time next year. Even as it is, it is one of the fastest sections on the Turkish railways with speeds of 120-130 km/hr for most of the journey. I dont think work has been started on the Istanbul-Eskişehir section, which will be longer and more challenging as the route goes through hilly and mountainous terrain. It may not be ready until 2012 or so. So the journey time of 6 ½ hours (in practice about 7 hours) will be reduced to about 5 hours once the Eskişehir-Ankara section is being used and 3 ½ hours once the whole railway is complete.

[Bill_Miyorum]

Thank you very much, Michael. I plan to get the train from Istanbul to Ankrara in May, 2009, and had been assuming that the journey time would be much as it is now. From what you say, this will probably be the case. I don't mind, though, as it means more time to look at the landscape and a chance to see how the train copes with Bilecik Bank, a 1-in-40 climb out of the valley of the Sakarya and up onto the Anatolian Plateau.

[Michael]

Slowly is the answer to that, but strangely enough it is faster than the bus for travel from Istanbul to Bilecik or Eskişehir.

[Bill_Miyorum]

High-speed running between Ankara and Eskişehir starts on March 13, 2009, according to this: http://hurarsiv.hurriyet.com.tr/goster/haber.aspx?id=10971133&tarih=2009-02-10 . This will require a new timetable; if anyone finds it on the Internet, I would appreciate a link. Thanks.

(8 March, 2009) According to http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/detaylar.do?load=detay&link=167998 , the intention is apparently to run eight trains per day in each direction between Ankara and Eskişehir. Reading between the lines, it looks as if these trains will shuttle back and forth between those two cities, rather than proceed to or from Istanbul. I have not managed to establish whether Istanbul-to-Ankara and vice-versa through trains will continue to run after March 13th or whether Istanbul-Ankara and vice-versa passengers will have to change train at Eskişehir. All information will be gratefully received.

(18 March, 2009) I have found the answer to my last question. Ankara-Istanbul and Istanbul-Ankara passengers now have to change from/to the new High-Speed Train at Eskişehir, according to this page on Turkish State Railways' official website: http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/yolcu/anahattrenleri.htm .