Van Gölü Ekspresi

Ends 1,267 km from Ankara at a ferry slip on Lake Van, where wagons bound for Iran are floated across Turkey’s largest lake.

The Doğu’s quieter southern sibling takes almost 26 hours to amble from Ankara to the shore of Lake Van, and devotees insist the second day is the best of Turkish rail travel. After the steppe cities of Kayseri and Sivas the train works south through the Euphrates headwaters, then winds along the Murat River canyons between Elazığ and Muş. It ends at Tatvan’s ferry slip beneath the 4,058 m Süphan volcano, where wagons for Iran are floated across the lake to Van.

Along the way

• Kayseri under Mount Erciyes
• Sivas steppe
• Malatya apricot country
• Murat River canyons past Elazığ
• Muş plain
• Lake Van ferry slip at Tatvan

How this line was checked

• Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 12158683 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within 173 m of them
• Checked against OpenStreetMap: 98.9% of this line lies within 250 m of real track, a median 54 m from it
• Checked against the running timetable via ÖBB Scotty: our line sits 0.2 km from the shape of IC 22012
• Wikipedia has an article for this line
• See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it

Questions and answers

How long is the Van Gölü Ekspresi?

The Van Gölü Ekspresi runs 1,267 km from Ankara to Tatvan.

How long does the Van Gölü Ekspresi take?

The fastest scheduled journey is 25 h 50 min for the 1,267 km. That is an average of 49 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 120 km/h.

Who runs the Van Gölü Ekspresi?

TCDD Taşımacılık, with TVS2000 sleeper & pullman cars.

How old is the Van Gölü Ekspresi?

The line has been in service since 1964. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.

How often does the Van Gölü Ekspresi run?

2× weekly each way.

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