The Istanbul suburban railway, locally referred to as B1 (), was an important rail line in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, Turkey. It was operated by the

Turkish State Railways The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey (), abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible for the ownership and maintenance of railways in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD ...

and was one of Istanbul's two commuter rail lines (the other being the

Haydarpaşa suburban Haydarpaşa is a locality 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 and ...

). Carrying an average of 22,200 passengers daily, it was the second-busiest commuter railway in

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, after the Haydarpaşa suburban. The Istanbul Commuter Railway is a historical line, being the first rail line to be electrified and being the first commuter railway in Turkey. Since it opened on December 4, 1955, the E8000 series have been in operation. In the 1970s, the E14000 series came into service and in 2010 the new

EUROTEM EUROTEM, alternatively Hyundai EURotem, is a joint enterprise between Hyundai Rotem of South Korea and TÜVASAŞ and ASAŞ of Turkey which was founded in 2006

built E23000 series began service. The line was closed in 2014 and all tracks have been removed for renovation and incorporation into the new

Marmaray Marmaray () is a commuter rail line located in Istanbul, Turkey. The line runs from Halkalı, on the European side, to Gebze, on the Asian side, along the north shore of the Sea of Marmara. Mostly using the right-of-way of two existing com ...

network which started operation in 2013 between Ayrılıkçeşmesi and Kazlıçeşme. The eastern terminus was Sirkeci Terminal in the

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

district in the historical city center. The line curves around the shore of the

Eminönü Eminönü, historically known as Pérama, is a predominantly commercial waterfront area of Istanbul within the Fatih district near the confluence of the Golden Horn with the southern entrance of the Bosphorus strait and the Sea of Marmara. It is l ...

peninsula, below the historic

Topkapı Palace The Topkapı Palace (; ), or the Seraglio, is a large museum and library in the east of the Fatih List of districts of Istanbul, district of Istanbul in Turkey. From the 1460s to the completion of Dolmabahçe Palace in 1856, it served as the ad ...

, and heads west. Travelling on the southern European shore of Istanbul, the line passes through several important districts, until curving north at Soğuksu to Halkalı.

Stations

History

E8000 Commuter train arriving at Sirkeci station

The line was originally built by the Oriental Railway (CO) in 1872, as a part of their Istanbul–Vienna main line. The railway started to operate trains, when the line reached

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

in 1873. The CO was absorbed by the

(TCDD) in 1937 and TCDD started to operate steam-powered commuter service on the line. The line was electrified in 25 kV AC in 1955. 25 kV AC electrification technology was quite new at the time, following the 1953 experiments in France and it made TCDD at the forefront in a suburb, seashore environment. This electrification enabled a frequent commuter service with E8000 EMUs. TCDD took also delivery of three E4000 electric locomotives for hauled trains. In the 1970s, new E14000 EMUs started to appear on the line and in the 1990s, the E4000 locomotives were retired. New E23000 EMUs were put into service on September 19, 2010. With the addition of the new EMUs, the E8000s were finally retired. In 2003, the

project started construction of a tunnel underneath the

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

, as well as the upgrade to this line.Rails under the Bosporus
, ''

Railway Gazette International ''Railway Gazette International'' is a British monthly business magazine and news website covering the railway, metro, light rail and tram industries worldwide. Available by annual subscription, the magazine is read in over 140 countries by tran ...

'' February 23, 2009 Plans were finalized, and the line closed on June 19, 2013 for at least 2 years. Part of it has been replaced by the underground Marmaray line though: the Kazlıçeşme station was replaced with a new surface station somewhat closer to central Istanbul, the Yenikapı station was replaced with an underground station, and the stations

Yedikule Yedikule (''Seven Towers'') is a neighbourhood in the municipality and district of Fatih, Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its population is 15,789 (2022). It is named after the seven-towered Yedikule Fortress, which surrounds the neighborhood. Urbaniz ...

, Kocamustafapaşa, Kumkapı and Cankurtaran were indefinitely closed. A new underground station was built in

Sirkeci Sirkeci () is a neighborhood in the Eminönü quarter of the Fatih district in Istanbul, Turkey. In the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine period, the area was known as Prosphorion Harbour, Prosphorion ().Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 57 The neighborhood b ...

from where the

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

under the Bosphorus runs. In June 2015 a plan to renovate and reopen the stations closed as a part of the Marmaray project was conceived with plans to open a new line in 2019, which later turned into the T6 line, opening in February 2024, with surface station in Sirkeci is planned to be the terminus station for future long-distance trains.

Stations

History

References

See also