The Polatlı–Konya high-speed railway ( tr, Polatlı-Konya yüksek hızlı demiryolu) is a long

high-speed railway High-speed rail (HSR) is a type of rail system that runs significantly faster than traditional rail, using an integrated system of specialised rolling stock and dedicated tracks. While there is no single standard that applies worldwide, line ...

running from the town of

Polatlı Polatlı (formerly Ancient Greek: Γόρδιον, Górdion and Latin: Gordium) is a city and a district in Ankara Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, 80 km west of the Turkish capital Ankara, on the road to Eskişehir. Accordin ...

to the central

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

n city of

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 ...

History

The railway is used by the Turkish State Railways' premier high-speed passenger service,

Yüksek Hızlı Tren Yüksek Hızlı Tren or YHT ( en, High Speed Train) is a high-speed rail service in Turkey, operated by TCDD Taşımacılık, and is the railway's premier intercity train service. As of 2022, the network spans and services major cities like Is ...

, which operates two routes on the line; ''Istanbul-Konya'' and ''Ankara-Konya''. The railway was opened on 23 August 2011, making it the second high-speed railway in

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 ...

. Construction of the railway started on 8 July 2006 and was finished in mid-2011 at a cost of TL1 billion ( $330 million). On 3 June 2011, TCDD HT65001 ''Piri Reis'' made the inaugural test run with

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician serving as the List of presidents of Turkey, 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as prime minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014 and as Lis ...

and

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

Binali Yıldırım Binali Yıldırım (; born 20 December 1955) is a Turkish politician who served as the 27th and last Prime Minister of Turkey from 2016 to 2018 and Speaker of the Grand National Assembly from 2018 to 2019. He was Leader of the Justice and Dev ...

; departing Ankara and arriving at

with large media fanfare. Test runs continued for two and a half months until the line was opened to commercial traffic on 23 August.

Gallery

File:TCDD HT65000 high-speed train.jpg, An HT65000 EMU on the line. File:Konya Gar.JPG, Konya Central Station File:Rail transport map of Turkey.png, High Speed Train network

References

External links

Ankara Konya Hızlı Tren Saatleri
Transport in Ankara Province Transport in Konya Province High-speed railway lines in Turkey Railway lines opened in 2011 Standard gauge railways in Turkey {{Turkey-transport-stub

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links