🇹🇷 Country
Train routes in Türkiye
14 routes · high-speed 3 · classic 4 · night train 4 · scenic 1 · mountain 2
14 routes cross Türkiye in the World Train Map atlas. The longest is the Doğu Ekspresi at 1,365 km; the fastest is the YHT, running up to 250 km/h; the oldest line dates to 1875. Every route links to its facts, photo and story, and to the interactive world map.
Open the world railway map →High-speed (3)
- YHT
From the Bosphorus across the Anatolian steppe. Türkiye’s white Velaros bridge two continents’ doorstep.
Wikipedia ↗ - Yüksek Hızlı Tren (YHT)
Turkey’s second high-speed line (2011) cut Ankara–Konya from over 10 hours to under two, racing across the Anatolian steppe past salt-pan Lake Tuz.
Wikipedia ↗ - Yüksek Hızlı Tren (YHT)
Turkey’s longest domestic high-speed line, 406 km over 11 tunnels and 6 viaducts, replaced a 12-hour conventional slog to Sivas with under three hours.
Wikipedia ↗
Classic (4)
- Baku–Tbilisi–Kars
The Silk Road revived: opened in 2017, it closes the last gap from the Caspian across the Caucasus to Turkey, a rail bridge between Asia and Europe.
Wikipedia ↗ - Toros Ekspresi
Heir to the Taurus Express of Agatha Christie fame: down the Cilician Gates on Baghdad Railway engineering to the cotton plains of Adana.
Wikipedia ↗ - Pamukkale Ekspresi
Heir of the Haydarpaşa night express: 418 km across the Aegean interior via Kütahya, Afyon and Dinar, down to Denizli’s white travertine country.
Wikipedia ↗ - 6 Eylül Ekspresi
Heir of the Bandırma boat trains that sped İzmir–Istanbul travellers to the Marmara ferries: relaunched in 2023, 341 km via Manisa and Balıkesir.
Wikipedia ↗
Night train (4)
- İzmir Mavi Treni
One of Turkey’s last classic ’Blue Train’ sleepers: 883 km overnight across western Anatolia via Eskişehir while the parallel high-speed line stays years off.
Wikipedia ↗ - 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.
Wikipedia ↗ - Bosfor Express
The overnight heir to the Orient Express, crossing the Thracian plain from Istanbul over the Bulgarian border to Sofia as the berths are made up.
Wikipedia ↗ - Güney Kurtalan Ekspresi
The third of Turkey’s great eastern sleepers: off the Anatolian plateau to Diyarbakır’s black basalt walls and the Tigris, ending at railhead Kurtalan.
Wikipedia (TR) ↗
Scenic (1)
- Doğu Ekspresi
Turkey’s cult 1,365 km trans-Anatolian sleeper to the snowy Caucasus frontier at Kars; social-media fame makes seats sell out weeks ahead.
Wikipedia ↗
Mountain (2)
- Tünel
Opened 1875 — the world’s second-oldest underground urban railway after London’s, and the oldest underground funicular still running.
Wikipedia ↗ - F1 Taksim–Kabataş Funicular
A deep-bored 2006 funicular linking Bosphorus ferries and trams at Kabataş with Taksim Square — Istanbul’s modern echo of the 1875 Tünel.
Wikipedia ↗
Photos via Wikimedia Commons — each route page credits the author & licence
What is the fastest train in Türkiye?
The YHT, running Istanbul to Ankara at up to 250 km/h. It is one of 14 routes in Türkiye in this atlas.
Are there night trains in Türkiye?
Yes — 4 sleeper services in this atlas serve Türkiye: İzmir Mavi Treni (Ankara – Izmir), Van Gölü Ekspresi (Ankara – Tatvan), Bosfor Express (Istanbul – Sofia), Güney Kurtalan Ekspresi (Ankara – Kurtalan).
Can you cross the border by train from Türkiye?
Yes — 2 of its 14 routes continue into another country: Baku–Tbilisi–Kars (Baku – Kars), Bosfor Express (Istanbul – Sofia).
Which is the most scenic railway in Türkiye?
Türkiye has 3 scenic or mountain lines in this atlas. The longest is the Doğu Ekspresi, 1,365 km.
Cross-border lines continue into
- 🇦🇿 Train routes in Azerbaijan 3 routes
- 🇧🇬 Train routes in Bulgaria 12 routes
- 🇬🇪 Train routes in Georgia 5 routes