The Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

:''Smyrna Cassaba & Prolongations''), formerly The Smyrna Cassaba Railway, was a railway company operating in Western Anatolia from 1863 to 1934.

History

The Ottoman Government gave a concession to build a railway from

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

to Cassaba on July 4, 1863. The concession was awarded to an English company "The Smyrna Cassaba Railway". The railway chose to have their terminus closer to İzmir's city center. Construction began ın 1864. The rail line opened to

Manisa Manisa (), historically known as Magnesia, is a city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the administrative seat of Manisa Province. Modern Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port cit ...

on October 10, 1865 and to Cassaba on January 10, 1866. The SCR then built a line to

Bornova Bornova is a metropolitan district of İzmir in İzmir Province in Turkey. It is the third largest district in İzmir's Greater Metropolitan Area of and is almost fully urbanized at the rate of 98.6 percent, with corresponding high levels of devel ...

(splitting from the main line at Halkapınar), which opened on October 25, 1866. They were going to extend the line to Cassaba, but the SCR went bankrupt during the stock market crash in 1866. The SCR recovered after a second concession to

Alaşehir Alaşehir (), in Antiquity and the Middle Ages known as Philadelphia ( el, Φιλαδέλφεια, i.e., "the city of him who loves his brother"), is a town and district of Manisa Province in the Aegean region of Turkey. It is situated in the va ...

. SCR completed the line to Alaşehir in 1875, however the construction was funded by the Ottoman Government. A third concession was awarded to the SCR in 1887 to build a branch to

Soma Soma may refer to: Businesses and brands * SOMA (architects), a New York–based firm of architects * Soma (company), a company that designs eco-friendly water filtration systems * SOMA Fabrications, a builder of bicycle frames and other bicycle ...

from Manisa. This was completed in 1890 but the Ottoman Government once again financed the construction. The Ottoman Government always in need of finance decided to rationalize the structure of the Smyrna Cassaba Railway. It exercised its right to purchase the concession and the part of the line it not already owned. The concession was then sold to

Georges Nagelmackers Georges Lambert Casimir Nagelmackers (born 25 June 1845 in Liège, Belgium; deceased 10 August 1905 in Villepreux, France) (60 years old) was a Belgian civil engineer and businessman. He was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon ...

, the founder the International Sleeping Car Company on February 17, 1893. The railway operation was transferred on 12 July 1893 to a new French company, the "Société Ottomane du Chemin de fer de Smyrne-Cassaba et Prolongements" (SCP), which was founded on July 16, 1893. The SCP received a concession to build from Alaşehir to

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 ...

. The SCP made an agreement with the Central Railway of Anatolia (CFOA) to connect the SCP's line with theirs at Afyon. The line to Afyon was completed in 1899. The SCP continued the line from Soma to

Bandırma Bandırma () is a city in northwestern Turkey with 161,894 inhabitants as of 2021 on the Sea of Marmara. Bandırma is a district of Balıkesir Province. Bandırma is located in the south of the Marmara Sea, in the bay with the same name, and is a ...

, which was completed in 1912. This became the shortest route between İzmir and

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, ...

via ferry connection at Bandırma. After the

Republic of Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

was formed in 1923, Turkey has nationalized all railways in the country, thus the SCP was taken over by 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 ...

in 1934.

External links

SCP - Smyrne Cassaba & Prolongements
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyrne Cassaba and Prolongements Railway companies of Turkey Ottoman railways Standard gauge railways in Turkey Defunct companies of Turkey Railway companies established in 1863 Railway companies disestablished in 1934 Companies based in İzmir