{"id":567744,"date":"2026-10-06T16:12:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:12:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=74786"},"modified":"2026-10-06T16:12:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T06:12:53","slug":"turkiye-prepares-to-inaugurate-the-high-speed-railway-to-bulgaria-this-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=567744","title":{"rendered":"T\u00fcrkiye prepares to inaugurate the high-speed railway to Bulgaria this week"},"content":{"rendered":"

The 153-kilometre \u00c7erkezk\u00f6y\u2013Kap\u0131kule high-speed railway is set for inauguration on Friday 9 October. Despite high-speed rail mostly being beneficial for passenger traffic, this line will have tangible benefits for freight as well. T\u00fcrkiye clearly finds it important: President Erdo\u011fan will even attend the opening ceremony.<\/strong>
\n<\/span>The new railway leads to Bulgaria and is therefore T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s upcoming rail gateway into the EU. It boasts a maximum speed of 200 kilometres per hour (for passenger traffic). The line has double tracks and is electrified.<\/p>\n

Travel times on the Halkal\u0131-Kap\u0131kule route (Istanbul\u2013Bulgarian border) will fall sharply. Currently, the freight transit time amounts to 8.5 hours. The high-speed line will reduce this to a mere 3.5 hours. Passengers can reach the EU\u2019s outer borders from Istanbul in just 1.5 hours via the railway.<\/p>\n

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Image: \u00a9 Turkish Ministry of Transport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Freight capacity is also expected to grow. Currently, only 1.5 million tonnes can be moved on the route annually, but this is set to increase to 9.5 million tonnes, according to the Turkish transport minister Abdulkadir Uralo\u011flu. As part of the project, T\u00fcrkiye also added eight tracks to the Kap\u0131kule rail yard on the Bulgarian border.<\/p>\n

In 2024, 86% of Turkish rail freight exports moved through this corridor. The added capacity could give that an extra boost. Industrial areas in T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s northwest will get better access to the European market.<\/p>\n

Criticisms<\/h2>\n

Still, the high-speed line does not resolve all of T\u00fcrkiye\u2019s problems to reach the EU via rail. Capacity across the Bosphorus Strait remains very limited at three million tonnes per year. This will only increase to 50 million tonnes with the INRAIL project (indicated on the map above in green), which will take years to complete.<\/p>\n

Moreover, the addition of new tracks at the Kap\u0131kule rail yard has been criticised. Bulgaria has not matched the same number of tracks at its side of the border. In practice, T\u00fcrkiye cannot send more trains across the border than previously.<\/p>\n

Bulgaria only has ten tracks available. The rail industry will thus have to wait a bit longer before the full international potential of the railway comes to fruition. This depends on rail infrastructure investments elsewhere in T\u00fcrkiye and in Bulgaria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The 153-kilometre \u00c7erkezk\u00f6y\u2013Kap\u0131kule high-speed railway is set for inauguration on Friday 9 October. Despite high-speed rail mostly being beneficial for passenger traffic, this line will\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10863,3339,343,4216,471,47,71,8804],"tags":[12634],"class_list":["post-567744","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asia-europe","category-bulgaria","category-infrastructure","category-istanbul","category-news","category-rail-news","category-turkey","category-turkiye","tag-railfreight"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t