The Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie ( tr, Osmanlı Anadolu Demiryolları, en, Anatolian Railway), founded on 4 October 1888, was a railway company that operated in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

.CFOA History
- Trains and Railways of Turkey The company was headquartered in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. The CFOA was the busiest railway in the Ottoman Empire and was one of the two railways operating into İstanbul, along with the

Chemins de fer Orientaux The Chemins de fer Orientaux (English: ''Oriental Railway''; Turkish: ''Rumeli Demiryolu'' or ''İstanbul-Viyana Demiryolu'') (reporting mark: CO) was an Ottoman railway company operating in Rumelia (the European part of the Ottoman Empire, c ...

. The

Baghdad Railway Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

(İstanbul-Aleppo-Baghdad) connected with the CFOA at Konya to allow rail transport from İstanbul to the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, although the Baghdad railway was not completed until 1940. The CFOA serviced major cities such as

İzmit İzmit () is a district and the central district of Kocaeli province, Turkey. It is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. As of the last 31/12/2019 estimation, the c ...

Adapazarı Adapazarı () is a city in northwestern Turkey and the central district of Sakarya Province. The province itself was originally named Adapazarı as well. Adapazarı is a part of the densely populated region of the country known as the Marmara Regi ...

Bilecik Bilecik is the provincial capital of Turkey's Bilecik Province which is located in northwestern Anatolia. As of 2015 urban population of the city is 64,531. The mayor is Semih Şahin ( CHP). The town is famous for its numerous restored Turki ...

Eskişehir Eskişehir ( , ; from "old" and "city") is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. The urban population of the city is 898,369 with a metropolitan population of 797,708. The city is located on the banks of the ...

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

Kütahya Kütahya () (historically, Cotyaeum or Kotyaion, Ancient Greek, Greek: Κοτύαιον) is a city in western Turkey which lies on the Porsuk River, Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is inhabited by some 578,640 people (2022 estimate) ...

and

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

. The railway also operated the

Port of Haydarpaşa The Port of Haydarpaşa, also known as the Port of Haidar Pasha ( tr, Haydarpaşa Limanı) or the Port of Istanbul, is a general cargo seaport, ro-ro and container terminal, situated in Haydarpaşa, Istanbul, Turkey at the southern entrance to the ...

and the Port of Derince. The railway was a

wholly owned subsidiary A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company (law), company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company ...

of the Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie, created on 8 October 1888 by the

Deutsche Bank Deutsche Bank AG (), sometimes referred to simply as Deutsche, is a German multinational investment bank and financial services company headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, and dual-listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the New York Sto ...

to operate the railway.

History

Ottoman Government Railways (1871-1888)

The

Ottoman Government The Ottoman Empire developed over the years as a despotism with the Sultan as the supreme ruler of a centralized government that had an effective control of its provinces, officials and inhabitants. Wealth and rank could be inherited but were j ...

, under the reign of

Sultan Abdulaziz Abdulaziz ( ota, عبد العزيز, ʿAbdü'l-ʿAzîz; tr, Abdülaziz; 8 February 18304 June 1876) was the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and reigned from 25 June 1861 to 30 May 1876, when he was overthrown in a government coup. He was a ...

, started building a on the Asian side of İstanbul, from

Haydarpaşa Haydarpaşa is a neighborhood within the Kadıköy and Üsküdar districts on the Asian part of Istanbul, Turkey. Haydarpaşa is named after Ottoman Vizier Haydar Pasha. The place, on the coast of Sea of Marmara, borders to Harem in the northwest ...

Pendik Pendik is a district of Istanbul, Turkey on the Asian side between Kartal and Tuzla, on the Marmara Sea. Home to Sabiha Gökçen International Airport. Population is 711,894. It also neighbours Sultanbeyli, Sancaktepe and Çekmeköy from nort ...

in 1871. The line was opened on September 22, 1872. The railway was extended to

Gebze Gebze (,) is a district in Kocaeli Province, Turkey. It is situated 65 km (30 mi) southeast of Istanbul, on the Gulf of Izmit, the eastern arm of the Sea of Marmara. Gebze is the largest district per population size in the province as o ...

, which opened on January 1, 1873. In August 1873 the railway opened to

. The railway was built to serve a populated area along the

Marmara Sea The Sea of Marmara,; grc, Προποντίς, Προποντίδα, Propontís, Propontída also known as the Marmara Sea, is an inland sea located entirely within the borders of Turkey. It connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea via the B ...

. The railway was then to be extended to

and

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...

. The line proved difficult to manage so in 1880, 60% ownership of the line was transferred to a British company. A

narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

extension of the railway was built to

the same year. The company could not finance the extension of the line to Ankara, so the company formed an

Anglo Anglo is a prefix indicating a relation to, or descent from, the Angles, England, English culture, the English people or the English language, such as in the term '' Anglosphere''. It is often used alone, somewhat loosely, to refer to people ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

syndicate under the leadership of Sir Vincent Caillard to complete the line. The syndicate still could not pull up the money needed to complete the line, so the company withdrew.

Chemins de Fer Ottoman d'Anatolie (1888-1927)

With the construction of the line to Ankara put on hold, the Ottoman government looked for a new company to build the line.

Georg von Siemens Georg von Siemens (21 October 1839 – 23 October 1901) was a German banker and liberal politician. Georg von Siemens was on the board of directors of the Deutsche Bank from 1870 to 1900. One of his top priorities was the financing of internati ...

, the managing director of the

was informed on the project, as well as Alfred von Kaulla, who was in İstanbul to handle the export of the Mauser rifle to the

Ottoman Army The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire. Army The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...

. After some tension, the Deutsche Bank won the concession to build the line. The original concession was for 99 years, which later became 114 years to match the Baghdad Railway. The Deutsche Bank created a subsidiary company, Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie that was incorporated on October 4, 1888 as the parent company of the railway. The CFOA subcontracted the building of the line to Philipp Holzmann. The CFOA started building the line to Ankara in May 1889. The CFOA completed the line to Arifye in 1890 and opened it on September 1, 1891. The line was opened to Ankara on December 31, 1892. In 1893 the Ottoman government granted the CFOA with a concession to build a line from

. The line was to branch from the İstanbul-Ankara main line at Eskişehir, to Alayunt,

Afyon Afyonkarahisar (, tr, afyon "poppy, opium", ''kara'' "black", ''hisar'' "fortress") is a city in western Turkey, the capital of Afyonkarahisar Province, Afyon Province. Afyon is in the mountainous countryside inland from the Aegean Sea, Aegean c ...

Akşehir Akşehir is a town and district of Konya Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 114,918 of which 63,000 live in the town of Akşehir. The town is situated at the edge of a fertil ...

and Konya. A branch line from Alayunt to

was also to be built. The line was opened to Alayunt and Kütahya on December 30, 1894. The CFOA opened the line to Afyon on August 4, 1895 and Konya on July 25, 1896. In 1899, the CFOA was granted another concession to build a line to

Bolu Bolu is a city in Turkey, and administrative center of the Bolu Province. The population is 131,264 (2012 census). The city has been governed by mayor Tanju Özcan ( CHP) since local elections in 2019. It was the site of Ancient Claudiopolis a ...

and later İsmetpaşa. The CFOA started construction and on November 1, 1899 opened a branch line from Arifye to

. However, the tracks never reached Bolu. In 1904 the

was incorporated to continue the line from Konya, through

Adana Adana (; ; ) is a major city in southern Turkey. It is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the Mediterranean Sea. The administrative seat of Adana Province, Adana province, it has a population of 2.26 million. Adana lies in the heart ...

and

Aleppo )), is an adjective which means "white-colored mixed with black". , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = , map_caption = , image_map1 = ...

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

. This would provide a direct rail link between İstanbul and Baghdad. However

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

halted the construction of the line. The

joined with the

Central Powers The Central Powers, also known as the Central Empires,german: Mittelmächte; hu, Központi hatalmak; tr, İttifak Devletleri / ; bg, Централни сили, translit=Tsentralni sili was one of the two main coalitions that fought in ...

against the Allied Powers. Non-German owned railways in the Empire were placed under Turkish military administration, but the CFOA, being mostly German owned, was unaffected except that civilian passenger traffic was suspended. It played a vital role carrying war materials to the fronts in

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

and

, with Germany supplying a large number of locomotives and wagons. After the end of the war and the

Dissolution of the Ottoman Empire The dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (1908–1922) began with the Young Turk Revolution which restored the constitution of 1876 and brought in multi-party politics with a two-stage electoral system for the Ottoman parliament. At the same tim ...

, the CFOA came under British military control. On 22 February 1920 British authorities handed control of most of the railway to Atatürk's Turkish nationalist government in Ankara, but in 1921 the majority of the line was lost by the nationalists to Greek forces. After the Greek defeat at Sakarya, they destroyed much of the railway's infrastructure as they retreated back to the coast. The CFOA was under full Turkish control by September 1923 and the war against Greece ended a month later. Despite being in control, the Turkish government was not the legal owner of the CFOA due to the company being headquartered in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, a neutral country in the war. On March 3, 1924 the Chemins de fer d'Anatolie Baghdad was created to operate CFOA lines until the Turkish government nationalized the line. The CFOA was absorbed completely by the CFAB, later TCDD on June 1, 1927.

Operations

Passenger Service

The CFOA operated many passenger trains on their lines. Their main line was between İstanbul and İzmit. The CFOA also operated the first passenger train between İstanbul and Ankara; this was a daily train that entered service in 1892. The most common

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

for passenger trains were the class 33001.

Freight Service

The CFOA's primary operation were freight trains. The CFOA mainly focused on transporting

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legum ...

from central Anatolia to the ports in İstanbul. The CFOA also played a big role in the construction of the Baghdad Railway, by transporting goods from İstanbul to Konya to help built the tracks. The CFOA owned and operated 2 major ports; the Port of Haydarpaşa and the Port of Derince. Most freight trains would load or unload at these ports.

Ports

The CFOA operated ports along with railways. Their main port was the

in İstanbul. This port exported most of the goods transported by the railway. With the heavy usage of the port, the equipment wasn't enough to support the traffic. The CFOA had difficulties to extend the port, so in 1897, the railway built a new port in

Derince Derince is a seaport, city and district of Kocaeli Province of Turkey. The mayor is Zeki Aygün ( AK Parti). Derince Port is one of the few ports in Turkey under government control. The port is operated by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD). Havi ...

near İzmit. This port had a

grain elevator A grain elevator is a facility designed to stockpile or store grain. In the grain trade, the term "grain elevator" also describes a tower containing a bucket elevator or a pneumatic conveyor, which scoops up grain from a lower level and deposits ...

to export grain from central Anatolia. The port of Haydarpaşa was finally extended in 1899. The

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey ...

acquired the ports in 1927.

Timeline

*1871 - Construction of a railway line from

Kadıköy Kadıköy (), known in classical antiquity and during the Roman and Byzantine eras as Chalcedon ( gr, Χαλκηδών), is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district in the Asian side of Istanbul, Turkey, on the northern shore of the Sea of ...

, in

İstanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

begins. *1872 - The railway from Kadıköy to Pendik is completed and opened on September 22. *1873 **January 1 - The railway is extended to

**August 1 - The railway is completed to

*1880 - A British company starts to finance the railway and is taken over from the Ottoman government. *1888 - The construction of the railway was transferred to the

to build the line to

. *1890 - İzmit - Arifye section is completed. *1891 - The railway opens to Arifye on September 1. *1892 - The railway is completed to Ankara and opens on December 31. *1893 - A concession is awarded to build a branch line from

. *1894 - Eskişehir - Alayunt and Alayunt - Kütahya branches are completed and opened on December 30. *1895 - Alayunt -

section opens. *1896 - The railway to Konya is completed and opened on July 29. *1897 - The Port of Derince is inaugurated. *1899 - Branch from Arifye is opened to

. *1914 -

begins. *1918 - World War I ends, the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

begin to occupy Anatolia; CFOA put under British military control. *1920 - The Turkish nationalists take over the Ankara - Konya portion of the line and start to use it against the Greek military, during the Greco-Turkish War. *1923 -

Treaty of Lausanne The Treaty of Lausanne (french: Traité de Lausanne) was a peace treaty negotiated during the Lausanne Conference of 1922–23 and signed in the Palais de Rumine, Lausanne, Switzerland, on 24 July 1923. The treaty officially settled the conflic ...

is signed, Allies are forced to leave Anatolia, railway is given back to Turkey. *1924 - The holding company, Chemins de fer d'Anatolie Baghdad is created to operate the railway. *1927 - The CFOA is officially absorbed by the

Railway Stations

The CFOA built and owned many

railway stations A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

.CFOA Stations
- Trains and Railways of Turkey The main stations notable are: * Haydarpaşa station,

* İzmit station,

* Adapazarı station,

* Bilecik station,

* Eskişehir station,

* Ankara station,

* Kütahya station,

* Konya station,

References

External links

Trains and Railways of Turkey
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chemins De Fer Ottomans D'anatolie Railway companies of Turkey Ottoman railways Defunct companies of Turkey Companies based in Istanbul Railway companies disestablished in 1927