TCDD Taşımacılık A.Ş. ( en, TCDD Transport, reporting mark TCDDT) is a

government-owned State ownership, also called government ownership and public ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, or enterprise by the state or a public body representing a community, as opposed to an individual or private party. Public ownership ...

railway company responsible for the operations of most passenger and freight rail in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

. The company was formed on 14 June 2016, splitting off from the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) to take over railway operations, while TCDD would continue to administer railway infrastructure. TCDD Taşımacılık officially began operations on 1 January 2017. TCDD Taşımacılık operates trains on a network of over within 59 of the 81 provinces in Turkey.

Organisation

TCDD Taşımacılık is a government-owned company responsible for the operation of passenger and freight railways within Turkey, including logistical centers and

train ferries A train ferry is a ship (ferry) designed to carry railway vehicles. Typically, one level of the ship is fitted with railway tracks, and the vessel has a door at the front and/or rear to give access to the wharves. In the United States, train f ...

, using infrastructure owned and maintained by the Turkish State Railways.

Passenger Operations

TCDD Taşımacılık operates passenger rail service on most of its network. Passenger trains service most major cities in Turkey, although a few are without train service, such as

Bursa ( grc-gre, Προῦσα, Proûsa, Latin: Prusa, ota, بورسه, Arabic:بورصة) is a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the ...

and

Antalya la, Attalensis grc, Ἀτταλειώτης , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 07xxx , area_code = (+90) 242 , registration_plate = 07 , blank_name = Licence plate ...

. TCDD Taşımacılık operates five types of passenger rail on its network: *High-speed (Yüksek Hızlı Tren): TCDD Taşımacılık's premier rail service. *Mainline (Anahat): Standard intercity passenger rail service, between major cities. *Regional (Bölgesel): Regional rail service, connecting major cities to surrounding cities, towns and villages. *Commuter (Banliyö): Commuter rail service within major cities. *International (Uluslararası): International train service to Europe.

High-speed rail

High-speed rail service is TCDD Taşımacılık's premier trains service, currently operating four routes between

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

, Eskişehir and

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

along the Ankara-Istanbul and Polatlı-Konya high-speed railways. High-speed trains are branded as ''Yüksek Hızlı Tren'' or ''YHT'' and operates at speeds of up to . YHT train service is expected to expand further to Sivas by 2019, Afyon by 2020, as well as

and

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...

in the early 2020s. YHT trains use Ankara station as their main hub, with an exclusive concourse and lounges within the

Ankara Tren Garı Ankara Tren Garı ("Ankara Train Station"), alternatively known as Ankara YHT railway station ( tr, Ankara Yüksek Hızlı Tren Garı) and abbreviated as ATG, is a mixed-use commercial building in Ankara, Turkey. The building houses a shoppin ...

building, built over the southern platforms at Ankara station. High-speed train service began on 13 March 2009, between Ankara and Eskişehir and in its final year before TCDD Taşımacılık took over, YHT trains carried over 5.89 million passengers.

Intercity rail

Intercity rail in Turkey is known as ''Mainline'' ( tr, Anahat) service. Mainline trains operate between major cities, often as overnight trains, and make limited stops. Mainline trains also operate at greater speeds than regional and commuter trains, when the route permits it. Intercity trains were operated the most between Istanbul and Ankara and reached speeds of up to in certain sections. The Capital Express, Anatolian Express and the Republic Express were a few notable mainline trains that ran on the Istanbul to Ankara rail corridor. Once the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway was completed in 2014, all mainline train service between the two cities was replaced with high-speed rail service. Mainline trains are usually equipped with TVS2000 air-conditioned cars, however refurbished Pullman cars are also used on some trains. Overnight mainline trains consist of

sleeping Sleep is a sedentary state of mind and body. It is characterized by altered consciousness, relatively inhibited Perception, sensory activity, reduced muscle activity and reduced interactions with surroundings. It is distinguished from wakefuln ...

and

dining car A dining car (American English) or a restaurant car (British English), also a diner, is a railroad passenger car that serves meals in the manner of a full-service, sit-down restaurant. It is distinct from other railroad food service cars that do ...

s while some trains also have couchette cars in addition to sleepers. During the final year before TCDD Taşımacılık took over operations, mainline trains carried over 1.3 million passengers.

Regional rail

Regional rail ( tr, Bölgesel treni) service connects major cities to neighboring towns and villages as well as other cities. These trains are usually the slowest in the whole TCDD Taşımacılık system, making frequent stops along its route. Some trains, like the Ada Express, however operate at faster speeds similar to mainline trains. All regional rail service operates within their respective districts, using one city as a hub. The most frequent regional rail service in Turkey is between

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart of Cilicia, wh ...

and

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitl ...

with 27 daily trains in each direction. The second most frequent route is between

and

Torbalı Torbalı is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey. An ancient Ionian city, Metropolis, is found in the district. It was famous for its wines and religious sites, and had three sanctuaries in marble dedicated to the Roman Emperor Augustus and hi ...

, with 18 daily trains in each direction. Regional trains can be locomotive-hauled or consist of diesel or electric trainsets (MUs) or even diesel

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

s. Locomotive-hauled trains consist of TVS200 or regular Pullman coaches. DM15000 and DM30000 DMUs are standard along many routes, especially south of İzmir. Regional trains lack any on-board services except at-cart catering services on most trains. During the final year before TCDD Taşımacılık took over operations, regional trains carried over 13.5 million passengers.

Commuter rail

Commuter rail service is currently provided in

and

, with a new network under construction in

Gaziantep Gaziantep (), previously and still informally called Aintab or Antep (), is a major city and capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Mediterranean Region, approxi ...

. The Marmaray network in Istanbul provides trans-

Bosphorus The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...

commuter rail service between Ayrılık Çeşmesi in

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea ...

and Kazlıçeşme in

Fatih Fatih () is a district of and a municipality (''belediye'') in Istanbul, Turkey, and home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the governor's office, police headquarters, metropolitan municipality and tax office) but not the co ...

, with the full network expected to enter service towards the end of 2018. Once opened fully, trains will operate between Halkalı in

Küçükçekmece Küçükçekmece (; meaning “small-drawer”, from much earlier ''Rhagion'' and ''Küçükçökmece as “little breakdown''" or “''little depression''”, in more ancient times just as Bathonea), is a suburb and district of Istanbul, Turke ...

and Gebze in the neighboring Kocaeli Province. The

Başkentray Başkentray ( en, CapitalRail), formerly known as the Ankara suburban ( tr, Ankara banliyösü), is the name of the long commuter rail line in Ankara, Turkey. It is operated by TCDD Taşımacılık on trackage owned by the Turkish State Railways ...

network in Ankara provides commuter rail service along an east-west axis between Sincan and Kayaş, with Ankara station as a hub. All commuter rail service operates on its own right-of-way, similar to some

S-Bahn The S-Bahn is the name of hybrid urban-suburban rail systems serving a metropolitan region in German-speaking countries. Some of the larger S-Bahn systems provide service similar to rapid transit systems, while smaller ones often resemble c ...

systems in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

, and are fully integrated with their respective cities' transportation network. The only commuter railway in Turkey not operated by TCDD Taşımacılık is

İZBAN İZBAN, previously known as Egeray, is a commuter rail system serving İzmir and its metropolitan area, mainly on a north–south axis, via two lines: The Northern Line and the Southern Line. Averaging a daily ridership of 185,000 passengers, ...

, which operates commuter rail on two lines in the İzmir metropolitan area.

International rail

While TCDD used to operate several international trains to

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and the Middle-East, most of these trains were cancelled due to the outbreak of war in

Syria Syria ( ar, سُورِيَا or سُورِيَة, translit=Sūriyā), officially the Syrian Arab Republic ( ar, الجمهورية العربية السورية, al-Jumhūrīyah al-ʻArabīyah as-Sūrīyah), is a Western Asian country loc ...

and

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, and the economic crisis in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

. Currently, TCDD Taşımacılık operates two international trains from Istanbul to

Sofia Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and h ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north o ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

respectively. These two routes operate out of Halkalı as a single train and later split in Bulgaria. Once the rehabilitation of the railway east of Halkalı is completed in late 2018, international train service will resume from their former terminus, Sirkeci station. An agreement between Greece and Turkey to revive the Istanbul to Thessaloniki train, cancelled in 2011, was signed in March 2016 but no progress has been made since and it is still unclear whether or not the train will resume service. A new international passenger service from

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography (Strabo), part of ...

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, was expected to start June 2018 via the recently completed

Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway The Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (BTK), or Baku–Tbilisi–Akhalkalaki–Kars railway (BTAK), is an international rail link project connecting Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey, which became operational on 30 October 2017 following several years of dela ...

. A train such as this would be the first revenue passenger train service from Turkey to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historica ...

. Due to the volatile situation in Syria and Iraq, all international train service to the middle-east is suspended indefinitely.

Freight operations

From 1980 onwards, rail freight tonne-kilometers transported by the TCDD rose slightly from ~5000million tonne-km in 1980 to ~7000million tonne-km in 1990 and to ~9000million tonne-km in 2000.Restructuring options for reform of TCDD
World Bank report 2003, ''hwtsk.com'' Approximately 50% of freight moved is minerals or ores, with construction materials increasing to ~10% in 2000 from less than 5% in 1980, food/agricultural products, chemicals/petroleum, and metal sectors each account for between 5 and 10%. International freight accounted for approximately 5% of totals in 2000. In 2012, 25.7 million ton were transported by rail in Turkey. Two steel companies, Erdemir and Kardemir, top 2 customers of TCDD, had transported 4.5 million ton in 2012, mainly iron ore and coal. 2.1 million tons of rail freight belong to international traffic. Most of international traffic between Turkey and Europe are done via Kapikule and mainly using container trains. As of 2016, the amount of goods transported by rail is stable (25.8 million ton) with 7.1 million being done with private wagons (domestic only). International transport is also stable since 2013 (1.8 million). Containers are widely used both in international and domestic transportation. 7.6 million ton is carried in containers. TCDD is supporting transportation by containers. Thus almost all of the private railway companies invested in container wagons, and carrying 20% of all rail freight by their own wagons. TCDD has plans to strengthen its freight traffic with the construction of 4000 km conventional lines until 2023. That includes new international rail connections to Georgia, Iraq and Iran.Uysal, Onur
"2023 Targets in Rail Freight – Network"
''Rail Turkey'', 11 July 2013 This will be complemented with the construction of 18 logistic centers in order to increase the ratio of domestic freight transported by rail.Uysal, Onur
"2023 Targets in Rail Freight – Logistic Centers"
''Rail Turkey'', 5 December 2013 The company is also planning to increase its international transit traffic (as little as 7000 ton in 2016) by constructing a "iron silk road" that will be connecting Europe and Asia and thus taking share from one of the world's highest freight traffic routes. Marmaray and the YSS bridge are the most important parts of this project which were completed in 2015 and 2016 respectively. Another key project is the Kars–Tbilisi–Baku railway which is planned to be completed in 2016 and start functioning in 2017. Also, plans for another supplying project to Kars-Tbilisi-Baku railway, the Kars-Igdir-Nakhcivan railway has been completed.Kars-Iğdır-Nahçivan Hızlı Tren Projesi (KIN)
/ref>

Fleet

TCDD Taşımacılık acquired its entire fleet from the Turkish State Railways on 28 December 2016, when the handover between the two organizations was signed. In total, TCDD Taşımacılık possesses 125 electric locomotives, 543 diesel locomotives, 19 high-speed trainsets, 49 EMUs, 64 DMUs, 872 passenger cars and 19,870 freight cars.

Locomotives

Trainsets

Railcars

Passenger cars

References

External links

* {{TCDD Taşımacılık routes Turkish State Railways Transport companies of Turkey Companies based in Ankara Railway companies established in 2016 Turkish companies established in 2016