Haydarpasa - Eskisehir line closing?

[bjoernotten]

Does anyone have any updates on the Haydarpasa - Eskisehir line? According to www.seat61.com the line will close between 10:00 - 15:00 in January and fully close from February due to engineering works in conjunction with the Marmaray tunnel project. Can anyone confirm this?

Brgd,

Bjørn Otten

[PeterDay]

Google translation of Turkish railway website suggests this is true. So if I wanted to catch the Istanbul-Erzurum train in May where do I have to go to get it? Ankara?

[Julian W]

Yes, it seems it is now closed - for 2 years!

I've translated the following from the TCDD home page:


Due to track works necessary for the Ankara-Istanbul High Speed Train project, the following alterations to service will be in force for 24 months starting from 1st February 2012:

The service of these trains will be suspended:
Fatih Ekspresi, Ankara Ekspresi, Anadolu Ekspresi, Meram Ekspresi, Eskişehir Ekspresi, Başkent Ekspresi, Cumhuriyet Ekspresi, Sakarya Ekspresi and Adapazarı trains.

The Boğaziçi Ekspresi service will run between Ankara and Arifiye (near Adapazarı) only (i.e. it will not run between Arifiye and Haydarpaşa)

The İçanadolu Mavi Treni will run between Adana and Arifiye (near Adapazarı) only (i.e. it will not run between Arifiye and Haydarpaşa)

The Doğu Ekspresi which normally runs between Istanbul and Kars will run between Ankara and Kars only;
the Güney Ekspresi which normally runs between Istanbul and Ankara will run between Ankara and Kurtalan only;
and the Vangölü Ekspresi which nomally runs between Istanbul and Elazığ will run between Ankara and Elazığ only;
i.e. the none of these trains will operate on the section between Ankara and Istanbul.

You can find this information in Turkish on these pages:
http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/home/index/
and
http://www.tcdd.gov.tr/home/detail/?id=495