commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

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 ...

Northern Line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs from North London to South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. The Northern line is unique on the Underground network in having two different routes through central London, tw ...

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting Commuting, commuters to a Downtown, central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter r ...

Marmaray The Marmaray () is a intercontinental commuter rail line in Istanbul, Turkey. A rail tunnel running under the Bosphorus strait was connected to an upgraded version of the old suburban train service (known as the banliyö), allowing trains ...

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 ...

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsTurkish). Established in 2007 and began operations in 2010, İZBAN was formed to revive old commuter rail in İzmir. As of 2017, İZBAN operates a long system, with 40 stations. İZBAN A.Ş., founded in 2006, operates the railway and is owned 50% by the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey ...

and 50% by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. İZBAN is a part of the municipality's transportation master plan.

Fares

İZBAN has a distance-based fare, shortest distance costs TL2.86 and TL0.01 is added for every over .

Routes

İZBAN currently has four routes; The

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

- Cumaovası, serving the central districts of the city and into

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

, The Southern Line, serving the central districts, Adnan Menderes Airport, the southern town of Menderes and the southern town of Torbalı, The Tepeköy- Selçuk which connects the town of Torbalı with the town of Selçuk, The Çiğli-Halkapınar line only runs during rush hours on weekends in order to reduce pressure on The

Aliağa Aliağa is a town and a district of Izmir Province in the Aegean Region of Turkey. The town is situated at about north of Izmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its economic activity is based on tourism, shipbreaking ...

- Cumaovası and The

Menemen Menemen is a district of İzmir Province in Turkey and its central town. The district extends on a fertile plain formed by the alluvial soil carried by the Gediz River. Adjacent districts are, from east to west; Aliağa and Foça to the north and ...

- Tepeköy lines. Apart from The Tepeköy- Selçuk line, all lines run through the central districts providing 8 trains per hour in the central district

History

İZBAN A.Ş. was jointly created on 10 January 2007 by the İzmir Municipality and the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey ...

to operate commuter service within the city. Previously commuter service was operated by the State Railways but service wasn't very frequent and trains weren't as efficient. By 2006 commuter ridership within İzmir was at its all time lowest with only 98,000 boardings that year. This followed a steady decrease in ridership since the 1990s. In order to revive commuter service in the city, the State Railways executed a complete overhaul of their two lines within the city. On 23 July 2006 the State Railways temporarily suspended all rail service into İzmir. Regional and intercity trains would terminate at

Çiğli Çiğli (''Silleon'' in Greek) is a metropolitan district of İzmir in western Turkey. It covers the northern end of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality around the mouth of the River Gediz, across the Gulf of İzmir from the main city. The Gediz de ...

in the north and

Gaziemir Gaziemir is a district of İzmir Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is one of the metropolitan districts of Greater İzmir, and is situated to the south of central İzmir ( Konak) on the road into town. İzmir Adnan Menderes Internat ...

in the south. During this time, the 24 existing commuter stations were rebuilt and 5 new stations were added. 15 new bus transfer terminals were added to integrate commuter service with the citywide bus service ESHOT. All grade crossings were converted to overpasses or underpasses with the exception of 7 crossings that were operational when service began. Today, only 3 remain and will be removed in the near future. Two railway tunnels were built in Karşıyaka and Şirinyer with a total of 4 underground stations and the railway's former right of way were converted into parks. Tracks were relaid with cement

ties TIES may refer to: * TIES, Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science * TIES, The Interactive Encyclopedia System * TIES, Time Independent Escape Sequence * Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science The ''Theoretical Issues in Ergonomics Science' ...

and signalization was upgraded to a central control station at Alsancak. Turnstiles were added at stations to integrate them with the citywide smartcard, Kentkart. A new maintenance facility was opened in Çiğli as well as a small yard was opened in Cumaovası for the trains. Works on the southern line finished in mid-2009 and regional service was restored to Basmane station. Works on the Northern Line finished in Spring 2010 and service was restored on 1 May 2010.

Service

Currently, İZBAN operates 164 daily trains in both directions between Cumaovası and Aliağa. All of the tracks are owned by the Turkish State Railways. There are also bus terminals integrated with several new stations. These stations are: Halkapınar, Şirinyer, Semt Garajı, Esbaş, Sarnıç and Cumaovası on the Southern Line, Mavişehir, Çiğli, Egekent 2, Hatundere, Biçerova, Menemen and Ulukent on the Northern Line.

Ridership

İZBAN is by far the busiest commuter railroad 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 in ...

, carrying more passengers than the rest of Turkey's other commuter railroads combined. The average daily ridership is about 100,000. In its first month, İZBAN carried about 2,000 passengers daily, this grew to 40,000 by the end of December and doubled to 80,000 by February. With the opening of the rail-bus transfers on the Northern Line, daily ridership has increased to 100,000. This is expected to rise to 140,000 by April. İZBAN, at 6 months old had carried more than 1.6 million passengers from its opening on August 30, 2010, making it one of the world's fastest growing commuter railroads. Below is a list of the top 10 busiest stations on the system as of September 2011.

Rolling stock

Future Extension

Aliağa-Bergama

İZBAN plans to extend the line 55 km north of Aliağa to

Bergama Bergama is a populous district, as well as the center city of the same district, in İzmir Province in western Turkey. By excluding İzmir's metropolitan area, it is one of the prominent districts of the province in terms of population and is l ...

. The goal of this project is to link the ancient cities of

Pergamon Pergamon or Pergamum ( or ; grc-gre, Πέργαμον), also referred to by its modern Greek form Pergamos (), was a rich and powerful ancient Greek city in Mysia. It is located from the modern coastline of the Aegean Sea on a promontory on th ...

and Ephesus with İzmir by rail. İZBAN – Vikipedi (Turkish)

Suspended

Menemen-Manisa

An extension to Manisa is planned and construction is expected to begin towards the end of 2011. This would mean the upgrading of several stations (Emiralem, Ayvacık, Muradiye, Horozköy) and a major upgrade of the

Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port ci ...

Railway Station, as well as adding a few new stations to serve all villages near the line(Yahşelli, Göktepe). Together with this, the existing single track line, would be made double track and electrified with

25 kV AC Railway electrification systems using alternating current (AC) at are used worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. It is usually supplied at the standard utility frequency (typically 50 or 60Hz), which simplifies traction substations. The dev ...

overhead wire.

Gallery

File:İZBAN trains at Alsancak Station.JPG, IZBAN trains at Alsancak in 2010. File:İZBAN at Çiğli.jpg, A southbound train departing Çiğli station. File:İZBAN train at Cumaovası.JPG, A train waiting to head back to Alsancak station during a test run before its opening. File:İZBAN train arriving at Çiğli.JPG, A northbound train leaving the Çiğli station. File:İZBAN train at Alsancak station on opening day.JPG, A train arriving at Alsancak station on opening day. File:E22017 at Alsancak1.JPG, E22017 at Alsancak Station. File:S-Bahn Izmir (IZBAN) Baureihe E22000 (CAF).JPG, E22008 at Adnan Menderes Airport. File:İZBAN Train.JPG, İZBAN at Alsancak station.

References

External links

İZBAN A.Ş. official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:İZBAN Rail transport in İzmir Railway companies of Turkey

Fares

Routes

History

Service

Ridership

Rolling stock

Future Extension

Aliağa-Bergama

Suspended

Menemen-Manisa

Gallery

See also

References

External links