Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that nearly 97 million passengers have traveled on high-speed train (YHT) services to date.
In a written statement, Uraloğlu recalled that Türkiye's first YHT line between Ankara and Eskişehir was launched on March 13, 2009, stating, “We made our country the 6th YHT operator in Europe and the 8th in the world. We introduced the Ankara-Konya line in 2011; the Konya-Istanbul and Ankara-Istanbul lines in 2014; the Karaman-Istanbul, Karaman-Ankara, and Eskişehir-Istanbul lines in 2022; the Ankara-Sivas line in 2023; and finally, the Sivas-Istanbul line in 2024.”
Highlighting that approximately 32,000 people travel daily with YHT services, Uraloğlu noted that the network directly serves 11 provinces, covering 34.8% of the country’s population and, through combined transportation, connects to nine more cities, expanding YHT services to a total of 20 provinces and 51% of the population.
Uraloğlu stated that YHTs provide direct services to Ankara, Eskişehir, Konya, Bilecik, Sakarya, Kocaeli, Istanbul, Karaman, Yozgat, Kırıkkale and Sivas. He added, “Through bus or train connections, combined transportation services also reach Adana, Afyonkarahisar, Antalya, Bursa, Denizli, Kütahya, Mersin, Malatya and Tokat. This combined transportation, which integrates YHT with buses or conventional trains, significantly reduces travel time compared to bus journeys.”
Uraloğlu emphasized that Ankara has been positioned as the center of the YHT network, stating: “In 16 years, YHTs have traveled 95 million kilometers and carried approximately 97 million passengers. The Ankara-Eskişehir YHT line served 20.9 million passengers, Ankara-Konya YHT carried 21 million, Ankara-Istanbul YHT transported 36.1 million, Konya-Istanbul YHT carried 11.6 million, Karaman-Ankara YHT served 2.4 million, Karaman-Istanbul YHT transported 1.7 million, Ankara-Sivas YHT carried 1.6 million, Sivas-Istanbul YHT served 482,000 and Eskişehir-Istanbul YHT transported 800,000 passengers.”
