The Istanbul-Sofia Express, Turkey’s gateway to Europe in passenger transportation by rail, made its first voyage on Tuesday after a two-year COVID-19 pandemic break.
The train services are operated by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD), and TCDD Transportation General Manager Hasan Pezük attended the farewell ceremony of the train headed to Sofia.
Speaking at the ceremony, Pezük said the Istanbul-Sofia Express has been eagerly awaited by passengers, and now the two-year hiatus of the express, which they operated daily before the pandemic, has come to an end.
The Istanbul-Sofia Express maintains a place of special importance in terms of facilitating international passenger traffic between Turkey and Europe by rail, Pezük said.
It has carried 65,000 passengers between 2017 and 2020 and, according to Pezük, will be welcomed with the same intense demand.
"Our citizens will be able to explore Europe comfortably with our train, which consists of two sleepers and one couchette car. Our trains will make positive contributions to the commercial life of our cities in the region and will undoubtedly improve their tourism potential," he also said.
Pezük stated that the tickets for the Istanbul-Sofia Express can be purchased at the Halkalı and Sirkeci stations on the city’s European side and the Söğütlüçeşme station on the Anatolian side of Istanbul, as well as from box offices and in city centers, such as Ankara, Eskişehir and Izmir.
The express departs from Istanbul’s Halkalı and takes about half a day to reach Sofia, Bulgaria.
The train's route starts at Halkalı and proceeds through Çerkezköy, Alpullu, Edirne, Kapıkule, Svilengrad, Dimitrovgrad, Plovdiv and Pazarcık (Pazardzhik), finally reaching Sofia.
Rail transport
During the ceremony, Pezük also commented on the country’s rail transportation for both passengers and freight.
He said they continue to exceed the borders with the passenger and freight transportation services, with an average of more than 600,000 passengers and 200 freight trains transporting 91,000 tons of cargo per day.
Stating that there were significant decreases in the number of passengers during the pandemic period, Pezük said, "It is extremely pleasing for us that the total number of passengers in the first three months of 2022 exceeded the total number in the same period of 2019 before the pandemic, and the passenger traffic at our stations has increased."
Railway transportation, which is preferred more than other transportation types as a more environmentally friendly choice, comes to the fore with its economic and safety aspects, Pezük said.
"International railway operations are carried out successfully thanks to the geopolitical location advantage of our country's lands in the Asian-European continents and the significant investments made in railways in the last 19 years. While the investments made in railways in our country produce results, the country's position as a natural bridge between Europe and Asia is further strengthened by the railway connection," he said.
Pezük highlighted that as the TCDD Transportation General Directorate, they are developing projects to get a larger share of the railway transport created by trade between Asia and Europe, to be a regional logistics actor, and to provide an economical, high quality and safe logistics service to Turkey’s exporters and industrialists.
"We now support our industrialists and exporters to compete globally by carrying out logistics operations with railways in geographies far from our country," he added.
Marmaray tunnel
Pezük went on to say that as a result of the improvements made in the fields of transportation and infrastructure in the railway sector, a total of 33.2 million tons of cargo was transported in 2021, breaking the highest transportation record of all time, with an increase of 11% compared to the previous year's shipments.
He emphasized that international freight transport, which increased by 24% compared to the previous year and amounted to 4.3 million tons last year, is important in terms of showing the contribution of the railways to exports and the country's economy.
Pezük pointed out that the Marmaray tunnel that connects Istanbul's Asian and European sides beneath the Bosporus is one of Turkey's most important transportation investments.
"With the Marmaray, which has carried 685 million passengers since its opening, we have almost reached the target of 1 million passengers per day by renewing the record with a daily number of 648,000 passengers on April 1, 2022," Pezük informed.
"From April 17, 2020, when freight trains started to pass through the Marmaray, to date, a total of 1,765 freight trains, 924 to Europe and 841 to Asia, have passed through the tunnel," he said.
Thanks to the 1,765 trains, most of which are international freight, 1.4 million tons of freight have been transported between continents in a timely and cost-effective manner, he said.
The Marmaray carries more than 600,000 passengers on average per day, according to what Pezük said, and "offers citizens a fast, comfortable and economical journey on high-speed, mainline, regional and urban passenger trains."