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The Trans Asya Treni (Trans-Asia
Train) supposedly departs Istanbul (Haydarpaşa) at
23:55 (11:55 pm) on Wednesday,
and arrives at Tatvan İskelesi (Tatvan
Dock) on the shores of Lake
Van in Eastern
Turkey at 14:50 (2:50 pm) on Friday.
After arriving in Tatvan, in principle
you cross Lake
Van on a ferryboat, arriving
in the city of Van at
18:25 (6:25 pm) on Friday. But
you may find yourself taking a
bus or minibus around the lake
instead, as the ferry is not reliable.
In principle, you have about 7 hours
to make the 150-km (93-mile) trip between
Tatvan and Van,
which should only take between 2 and
3 hours by minibus, but the
train may be late arriving
in Tatvan. Still, you should have enough
time to get to Van for the departure
of the onward train.
The train departs the Van
Iskelesi (Van
Dock) station at 21:30 (9:30 pm)
on Friday and reaches the Turkish-Iranian
border at Kapıköy at
23:55 (11:55 pm).
After about 1-1/2 hours at the border,
the
train leaves the Turkish border station
at Kapıköy for Razi and Tabriz, arriving
on Saturday in
Teheran about 20
hours later, at 20:20 (8:20 pm).
The entire journey (if the train is
on time) takes over 66 hours,
or nearly three
days.
The Trans Asya hauls couchette
cars. The one-way
fare from Istanbul to
Teheran is 49.40 euros,
including the couchette fees (mandatory).
Traveling from Teheran to Istanbul,
the train departs Teheran at 21:25
(9:25 pm) on Thursday evening, and
the Kapıköy border station on Friday
at 17:40 (5:40 pm) and arrives at Van
Iskelesi at 19:56 (7:56 pm). You then
take the ferryboat to Tatvan İskelesi.
From Tatvan İskelesi, the Trans Asya
Treni departs early Saturday morning
at 04:52 am, and arrives in Ankara on Sunday at 08:30 am, then departs
at 09:30 am for Istanbul (Haydarpaşa),
arriving at 18:34 (6:34 pm). Here's
the schedule.
The round-trip/return fare is
twice the one-way fare.
On other days of the week, the Trans
Asya's place is taken (more or less)
by the Vangölü
Ekspresi, but that train
does not go to Iran.
Two other trains travel between Turkey
and Iran, the Van-Tebriz Train and
the Iran-Turkey-Syria Train.
Please read this
safety notice about overnight
travel.
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