Getting There By Rail
Turkish State Railways – TCDD (tel: (0312) 309 0515; website: www.tcdd.gov.tr (no English yet) operates the national railway network, with rolling stock that is slow and lacking air conditioning, although cheap. There are two stations in Istanbul – Sirkeci Station, Ankara Caddesi, near Eminönü on the European side (tel: (0212) 527 0050/0051), and Haydarpasa Station, Haydarpasa Istasyon Caddesi, near Kadiköy on the Asian side (tel: (0216) 336 0475 or 336 2063). Both stations are well equipped with restaurants, newspaper kiosks, waiting rooms and ATMs.
Rail services: Trains bound for Sofia, Belgrade, Bucharest and Budapest (with transfers to Munich and Vienna) leave from Sirkeci Station, departing approximately 2300. Trains for Turkish destinations leave from Haydarpasa Station. There are express trains between major Turkish cities but cheaper rural routes can be painfully slow and crowded. Services to Ankara include: the Bogazici Express and the Baskent Express (journey time of both – 6 hours 30 minutes), and the Fatih Express (journey time – 8 hours). A new Istanbul to Ankara super-express was taken out of service soon after its launch, after a fatal crash in July 2004.
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