Van Gölü Ekspresi

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.

Stations

1. 0 kmAnkara +6
2. 11 kmKayaş +2
3. 35 kmLalabel
4. 42 kmElmadağ +2
5. 66 kmIrmak +2
6. 87 kmKirikkale +2
7. Show 54 more stations

   1. 109 kmBalisih
   2. 140 kmÇerikli +2
   3. 172 kmSekili +1
   4. 196 kmYerköy +1
   5. 209 kmKaraosman
   6. 221 kmCaferli
   7. 229 kmŞefaatli +2
   8. 246 kmSarikent +2
   9. 259 kmKarasenir +1
   10. 262 kmKanlica +1
   11. 279 kmYenifakili +2
   12. 317 kmHimmetdede +1
   13. 352 kmBoğazköprü +2
   14. 367 kmKayseri +2
   15. 430 kmSarioglan
   16. 444 kmKaraözü +1
   17. 460 kmYeniçubuk +2
   18. 495 kmSarkisla +2
   19. 517 kmHanli +1
   20. 534 kmBedirli +1
   21. 560 kmKalin +1
   22. 584 kmSivas +2
   23. 611 kmBostankaya +2
   24. 669 kmYenikangal +2
   25. 690 kmÇetinkaya +2
   26. 705 kmDemiriz
   27. 713 kmAkçamağara
   28. 719 kmAkgedik
   29. 757 kmHekimhan +1
   30. 792 kmYazihan +1
   31. 826 kmMalatya +1
   32. 839 kmBattalgazi
   33. 852 kmFirat +1
   34. 861 kmGemici
   35. 868 kmKussarayi +1
   36. 877 kmPinarli +1
   37. 891 kmBaskil
   38. 903 kmŞefkat +1
   39. 916 kmYolcati +1
   40. 940 kmElazig
   41. 954 kmYurt
   42. 962 kmÇağlar
   43. 1,002 kmMuratbagi
   44. 1,017 kmPalu
   45. 1,036 kmBeyhan
   46. 1,043 kmArindik
   47. 1,046 kmEkerek
   48. 1,052 kmAkbulut
   49. 1,057 kmYeni Suveren
   50. 1,079 kmGenç
   51. 1,110 kmUyanik
   52. 1,112 kmBozkanat
   53. 1,123 kmOymapinar
   54. 1,138 kmAsmakaya
8. 1,160 kmKurt
9. 1,183 kmMuş
10. 1,242 kmSicaksu
11. 1,263 kmRahova
12. 1,276 kmTatvan Pier

The stations this train called at in the operator’s timetable (ÖBB Scotty, the IC 22012 on 12 October 2026), in order along the line as drawn here, with the distance along it. Other runs of the train may skip some of them, and the timetable can change. A +N after a station: N other routes on this map stop or end there, and the map draws it as a station where lines meet.

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

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