Train travel in Turkey: train types, tickets, fares, discounts & other useful info

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1 Country info: Turkey (Türkiye) Rail companies: TCDD ( Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları ) Turkish Rail Network Map Currency: 1 euro= app. 3.2 Turkish Lira (TRY) Train travel in Turkey: train types tickets fares discounts & other useful info National Train Service: Train types in Turkey: Suburban (Banliyö trenler) Regional (Bölgesel trenler) Express (Ekspr 1 / 8

2 esler ) 'Blue' Trains ( Mavi trenler ) High- S peed (Y ü ksek Hizli Tren ler ) & International trains ( Uluslararasi trenler) - Suburban (Banliyö): commuter service around Istanbul Ankara & Izmir no seat reservation required - Regional (Bölgesel): regional service all over Turkey no seat reservation required - Express (Ekspress): long-distance daytime & overnight sleeper trains connecting major Turkish cities & towns s 2 / 8

3 eat /bed reservation required - Blue (Mavi): long-distance premium sleeper trains seat/bed reservation required (curren tly MAVI service available on routes from Ankara to Izmir Ankara to Malatya & Ankara to Adana Alsancak to Konya & Adana to Konya - High-Speed (Yüksek Hizli): high-speed trains connecting Ankara with Istanbuk (Pendik) Istanbul with Konya Ankara with Konya & Ankara with Eskisehir s eat reservation required + s pecial tariff supplement applies - International (Uluslararasi): international trains connecting Turkey with Bulgaria (Istanbul-Sofia) Romania (Istanbul-Bucharest) & Iran (Ankara-Tehran & Van-Tabriz) Ticket Sales (domestic journeys): for most TCDD long-distance & high-speed trains ticket sale starts 15 days before the day of the journey while ticket for regional trains can be bought on the day of the journey. 3 / 8

4 Couchette & Sleeper reservations fares for long-distance trains in Turkey: 4 berth couchette (Örtülü Kuşet 15 TRY) double bed sleeper (Yatakli 2) 60 TRY ('Izmir Mavi' train) or 60 TRY (all other trains) & single bed sleeper (Yatakli 1) 90 TRY ('Izmir Mavi' train) 80 TRY ('Konya' & ''Cukurova Mavi' trains) or 70 TRY (all other trains) Discounts special offers & ways to save money for passengers traveling by train in Turkey (TCDD): - Passengers purchasing return ticket (Gidiş-Dönüş) receive 20% discount from standard full fare ticket fare - For journeys on Ankara-İstanbul(Pendik) & Konya-İstanbul (Pendik) lines with high-speed (YHT) trains TCDD offers special discounted tickets ( Hesaplı Bilet) starting from only 35 TRY however number of such cheap tickets are limited per each departure - Youth (<26) & Senior (>60) passengers as well receive 20% discount for train tickets in Turkey (although information whether discount is given only to Turkish citizens or everybody needs to be rechecked) - Passengers planning to travel extensively in Turkey might consider buying TCDD Train Tour Cards ( Tren Tur Kartlari ): 4 / 8

5 - Express Train Tour Card (Ekspres Tren Tur Karti) allows holder to travel free on the entire Turkish rail network for 30 days (except high-speed trains) additionally passenger needs to pay only sleeping car reservation while seat reservation (Pullman) can be reserved in advance free of charge. Ekspres Tren Tur Karti cost 210 TRY - Sleeping Car Train Tour Card (Yatakli Tren Tur Karti) allows holder to travel free on the entire Turkish rail network for 30 days (except high-speed trains) passenger doesn't pay any additional supplements or sleeper reservation fares (seat couchette or sleeping car reservation are free of charged). Yatakli Tren Tur Karti cost 550 Turkish Liras - High-Speed Train Card (Tam YHT Karti) allows holder to travel free on high-speed trains (from Ankara to Eskişehir and from Ankara to Konya) during 30 days Tam YHT Karti cost 420 Turkish Liras for adults or 300 TRY for youth (<26 years old) - Passengers planning multiple trips in Turkey and/or to neighboring European countries might consider purchase of Balkan Flexi Pass (special pass for journeys in the area of south-east Europe). Balkan Flexi Pass (validity period of one month) allows unlimited number of rail journeys during of or 15 days on rail networks of Bulgaria FYR of Macedonia Greece Romania Turkey Serbia & Montenegro 5 / 8

6 Balkan Flexi Pass prices (2 nd class): International Train Service: *Due to major reconstruction works around Istanbul area done by Turkish Railways currently there is no rail service on leg from Istanbul till Turkey/Bulgaria border (Kapikule) instead TCDD offers replacement bus service (rail tickets are valid for these buses) for passengers traveling from Istanbul to Bulgaria & Romania (Bosphorus Express) and vice versa 6 / 8

7 Tariffs the tariff Euro for international tickets Europe used SCIC-NRT by Turkish tariff railways: a) Group SET Regular - trains currency for (SERG) tariff connections that discounts (valid - originate which for to rail are from Iran journeys the Turkey and railway Syria between have companies CMO final the tariff destination members of (however tariff currency of in Albania in South-East countries real life Swiss it's participating Europe SET Francs tariff Bulgaria Railways in since SERG) all Romania b) c) Not Macedonia reece Turkey Serbia Montenegro Special offers & Republika ( SparSchiene Srpska )(ZRS) FYR of Current CityStars available prices for international tickets from Turkey: Istanbul G 2940 Istanbul to Bucharest (3880 nd class sleeper or while euro in berth 2 euro couchette 1 2 bed sleeper reservation is euro additional & single 940 sleeper euro to Sofia berth (1960 euro) - 14 euro) euro in 32 bed nd class or How to Buy Train Tickets in Turkey: National (domestic) tickets for long-distance (Express & Mavi) & high-speed trains can be purchased via TCDD website / 8

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