To travel by train in Turkey was sometimes a pain in the ass. Because of the winding route and the outdated railtracks, the speed of the train often could not exceed 60km/h, which means it would take more than twice the time required by bus to travel from Sivas to Ankara. A few years ago, a series of fatal rail accidents tarnished the already shaky reputation of Turkey's state-owned railways even further. A while ago, when I decided to take an overnight sleeper train when travelling from Ankara to Adana, all friends who heard about that shook their head in disbelief, as most Turks consider travelling by train far too slow and inefficient than going by bus or by car. To make it more complicated, in the last few years many sections of the Turkish rail systems were closed due to rail upgrading works, which makes rail travel even more inconvenient and unappealing to the general public. Granted, train fares in Turkey are much cheaper than bus fares, but given the amount of time required and the frequent delay, unless one has a lot of free time on hand and does not need to be in a particular place at a particular time, it is better to go by bus or air.
Well aware of the fact that the Turkish rail system is seriously out of date and under-invested, the Turkish government approved an ambitious scheme to connect virtually all important cities in Turkey with modern high-speed rail networks. The first high-speed line to be built is the Istanbul-Eskisehir-Ankara line, but for whatever reasons, the construction of the line takes ages and is still going on at the time of writing (January 2012). Hence only the high-speed section between Ankara and Eskisehir has entered into full-time service, operated by real high speed trains. Istanbul-bound passengers have to get off the high speed train in Eskisehir and change onto conventional trains in order to continue their journey to Istanbul.
The grand scheme of high speed rail networks envisaged by the Turkish state would reduce, among others, the travel time between Ankara and Sivas from a lengthy 10 hours to less than 3 hours, and would connect cities previously not included in the existing rail networks, such as Antalya, Yozgat and Corum, by high speed trains to Ankara. A series of new high-speed tracks and new purpose-built high speed railway stations would be constructed in the next decade.
The Ankara - Konya high speed rail line is the second and the latest high speed rail link to enter into full-time service in Turkey. The new journey time is an impressive one hour fourty minutes, compared to the 5-6 hours previously required when travelling by bus. With this new high speed rail link, it is now possible for travellers to visit Konya and the nearby sights from Ankara on a day trip basis. In the future, the line will extend from Konya southwards via Karaman and Mersin to Adana.
In November 2011, as I had one whole day to spare between arriving by night train from Sivas to Ankara, and the appointment in Istanbul, I decided to give the newly inaugurated high speed lines between Ankara and Konya a try. One way ticket for the 1 hour 40 minutes journey is 25TL for second class travel, which is really excellent value for money. Tickets for the high speed trains can be bought at the ticket counters in the main hall of Ankara's train station by first drawing a queue ticket from the machine and then wait for your number to be called before proceeding to the ticket counter. Before boarding the train which leaves from Platform 1, all passengers must undergo a simple security check and have their baggages screened by placing them on the X-ray machine belt.
The train is very new and comfortable, with sufficient legrooms, fold-up table, and overhead TV monitors display information such as the current speed of train. The maxmium speed attained was 269km/h. There is a snack bar in one of the carriages, although I must say I still prefer the spacious dining cars found in long-distance overnight trains in Turkey. The big drawback in my opinion about the latest high speed train carriage in service on the Ankara-Konya line is, the Turkish railways authorities have underestimated the number of baggages and suitcases Turks carry around with them when they travel. If the situation on the train I travelled with is anything to go by, the whole corridor is blocked by over-size suitcases and bags, because the luggage racks near the automatic doors connecting one carriage to another is completely full, but the overhead storage compartments are too small (and the suitcases are too heavy to be safely stowed away over your head), while there are just not enough space between the seats or under the seats for any suitcase or luggage. The suitcases on the corridor near the carriage doors make it even more difficult for passengers to board the train. I saw with my own eyes luggages were being placed right next to the emergency exits. This is something which definitely needs to be improved upon. Fortunately this train is a non-stop service between Ankara and Konya, otherwise there would be chaos in the carriage when passengers who are getting off the train in one of the intermediate stops have to fight their way through all the piles of bags and suitcases on the floor with their own heavy suitcases.
Copyrights@2012. All text and photos by YC Cheng. All Rights Reserved.
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