WELCOME TO KONYA Let me take you on a journey from Konya to Istanbul. We start our Joruney at Selçuklu YHT station which was newly opened in 2020. Like for all long distance train stations in Turkey, there is a security check and a ticket control before the platform. let's explore! Wow, so much room for activities! And everything still new and clean. the access to the train is blocked by a glass wall with only two small doors. but the location of the cars is marked, which is nice. Most of the passengers wait at the height of their car on the track side of the wall. because of this wall, everyone is crammed here very close to the track...
Anyhow, our train arrives on time. The line is typically served by TCDD HT65000 made by CAF - simple and good in my opinion. Goodbye Konya! Soon we are dashing through the Anatolian highlands with 250 km/h. The Konya - Polatlı highspeed line was openend fully in 2011 after only 5 years of work. Impressive for about 200 km of high speed line. The line was built by a Turkish company in cooperation with the China Railway Construction Company. Let's have a closer look at the concept of this CAF Sepia based train. Passengers board train by an access compartment in the middle of the car, with one door on each side. The toilets are here, as well as some additional space for luggage. Each car has two seating compartments. This is a business class 2+1 car with a mix of vis à vis and airline seat rows. In business class, each seat has an information display showing speed and location. It is also hanging from the ceiling. There are no information about arrival times, delays or others. Don't forget to take a screenshot of your travel plan. Traveltime between Konya and Istanbul is roughly 5 hours. After leaving Konya we head north toward Polatlı. Joining the Eskişehir - Ankara line towards west. Heading through the Köroğlu Dağları north. Following the Marmara coast towards Istanbul - easy. The station is kinda busy and about half of the passengers change here. This is the second type of YHT in Turkey, the TCDD HT80000, a type of Velaro made by Siemens. It's related to the Eurostar or ICE3 and used for İstanbul - Ankara and Konya - Ankara journeys. Do you like the YHT Livery? As we head towards west, we can enjoy the last minutes on the high speed line on flat lands.
I am still impressed by the smoothness of the track and ride. Only a few passengers change here. A photo of the famous Doğu Ekspresi I guess. The highspeed line through the Köroğlu Mountains isn't fully finished yet As visible on Openrailwaymap, the terrain is difficults. Many tunnels and bridges neet to be built in order to operate a high speed line. The train changes between newer and older segments from time to time. The view gives some close insights into Turkish rural areas. But travel speed is slow as even lorries are passing us. Before arriving in Bilecik, we can see the old mountain route. This train line was already used in old Ottoman times. Such a beautiful viaduct. We now have crossed the Köroğlu Mountains and follow the coast of Sapanca Gölü. By reaching İzmit, we will soon leave the rural landscapes behind us and enter the buzzing metropole. Here we go! :) Some parked Anahat cars and a gravel train. Anahat is the Turkish Railways name for locomotive pulled passenger trains. In parallel to Highspeed trains, TCDD offers a few loco pulled trains through Turkey. They all have beautiful names as Mavi tren (blue train), Doğu Ekspresi (Eastern express) and operate once daily. As the train now shares the Marmaray line with commuter trains, we can see busy transit stations. The Marmaray line through İstanbul was recently completed. It consisted in modernising the stations and railway line, the rolling stock for commuters and... ... the famous Marmaray tunnel crossing the Bosporus. Some of the High Speed Trains also use the Marmaray tunnel and terminate on the European side. Each of the twin compartments has a luggage rack and airplane style overhead bins. Especially in Business Class, legroom is generous and the seat is comfortable. The tray table is a little bit low for working on a laptop. While we grind through the Marmaray, let's shortly have a look at the booking platform. You can search for a connection between two stations at a particular day. Depending on the circumstances, TCDD only publishes trains a few weeks in advance. For YHT, you can choose between Economy and Business Class. The available seats are in ( ) After selecting a train and a class, you have to choose a seat. TCDD shows wether Seats are occupied by women or men. Conservative customers can avoid to sit next to someone from the other gender. As man, do not book a seat next to a woman you aren't planning to travel with! After choosing, you can pay by credit card. The boarding pass with be sent by email and can be added to the Apps for phone or tablet. Let's race a Hyundai commuter train :D We are now slowly approaching Söğütlüçeşme, my final destination for the day. Thank you for joining on this journey through Anatolia :)
