Istanbul–Pythion railway

Not to be confused with Istanbul-Kapıkule railway.

Istanbul-Pythion railway
An E68000 electric locomotive pulling a regional express train to Kapıkule.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Turkish State Railways (Istanbul-Hudut) Hellenic Railways Organization (Hudut-Pythion)
Locale	East Thrace
Termini	Istanbul, Turkey Pythion, Greece
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	Turkish State Railways
History
Opened	4 April 1873
Technical
Line length	281.4 km (174.9 mi)
Number of tracks	Double track (Sirkeci-Halkalı) single track (Halkalı-Demirköprü)
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV (Istanbul-Pehlivanköy)
Operating speed	100 km/h (62 mph)
Route map Marmaray tunnel to Söğütlüçeşme Istanbul 0 km 0 mi Istanbul Sirkeci Docks 2.1 km 1.3 mi Cankurtaran 3.8 km 2.4 mi Kumkapı Yenikapı Transfer Center 4.8 km 3 mi Yenikapı 5.8 km 3.6 mi Cerrahpaşa 6.5 km 4 mi Kocamustafapaşa 7.4 km 4.6 mi Yedikule 8.6 km 5.3 mi Kazlıçeşme 9.7 km 6 mi Zeytinburnu 11.8 km 7.3 mi Yeni Mahalle 12.6 km 7.8 mi Bakırköy 14.7 km 9.1 mi Atatköy 16.5 km 10.3 mi Yeşilyurt 17.6 km 10.9 mi Yeşilköy 21.1 km 13.1 mi Florya 22.2 km 13.8 mi Menekşe D.100 23.8 km 14.8 mi Küçükçekmece 25.2 km 15.7 mi Mustafa Kemal 26.2 km 16.3 mi Kanarya Halkalı 27.6 km 17.1 mi Halkalı Yard Halkalı Marmaray Yard 30.8 km 19.1 mi Yarımburgaz Sazlıdere 32.2 km 20 mi Altınşehir O-3 38.1 km 23.7 mi Ispartakule 44.6 km 27.7 mi Deliklikaya 46.1 km 28.6 mi Ömerli 1980 realignment Hadımköy 49.4 km 30.7 mi Yeşilbayır Bahşayiş Lake Büyükçekmece 66.6 km 41.4 mi Çatalca 65.2 km 40.5 mi Gökçeali D.569 71.8 km 44.6 mi İnceğiz 74.4 km 46.2 mi Kabakça 86.4 km 53.7 mi Kurfalı 96.9 km 60.2 mi Sinekli 104.6 km 65 mi Çayırdere Istanbul Tekirdağ provincial border D.567 114.7 km 71.3 mi Çerkezköy 135.8 km 84.4 mi Veliköy 141.6 km 88 mi Velimeşe O-3 147.5 km 91.7 mi Yulaflı D.100 153.8 km 95.6 mi Çorlu 164.6 km 102.3 mi Sarılar 169.5 km 105.3 mi Balabanlı 179.7 km 111.7 mi Muratlı D.565 Muratlı-Tekirdağ railway to Tekirdağ Tekirdağ Kırklareli provincial border 195.1 km 121.2 mi Seyitler 199.2 km 123.8 mi Karabeyli 204.3 km 126.9 mi Ovacık 208.9 km 129.8 mi Müsellimköy 212.7 km 132.2 mi Lüleburgaz 218.1 km 135.5 mi Sarıcaali Alpullu Sugar Factory 229.3 km 142.5 mi Alpullu D.550 235 km 146 mi Müsellimköy Mandıra-Kırklareli railway to Kırklareli 243 km 151 mi Doğanca 250.7 km 155.8 mi Pehlivanköy Kırklareli Edirne provincial border Pehlivanköy-Svilengrad railway to Svilengrad 260.1 km 161.6 mi Bayramlı D.555 271.3 km 168.6 mi Uzunköprü 279.3 km 173.5 mi Demirköprü 280.9 km 174.5 mi Maritsa Turkey Greece border Alexandroupolis-Svilengrad railway to Alexandroupolis 282.2 km 175.4 mi Pythion Alexandroupolis-Svilengrad railway to Svilengrad

The İstanbul–Pythion railway is the main railway line in Eastern Thrace and is the Turkish State Railways trunk line to Europe. It was built in 1873 as part of the Chemins de fer Orientaux main line between İstanbul and Belgrade. It is 281.4 km (174.9 mi) long. The line is an important freight corridor for the country.

Route

The western end of the railway; Pythion, Greece.

The line starts in Istanbul Sirkeci station, almost next to the Golden Horn mouth. It then follows the Marmara seashore to exit the city, passing the Istanbul walls at Yedikule. It then goes through the suburb to Halkalı, the current endpoint of the double track. From there, the line goes North for a few kilometres to go around a lake before resuming its course westward.

At Çatalca, the line will start climbing at an average rate of 6‰ to a 200m high point near the Kurfallı station. It will then descend back to Çerkezköy station. From there, the line will follow the Ergene River all the way until Uzunköprü station, at an average altitude of 50m.

From Uzunköprü station, the line will turn North West to reach the Meriç River where it will cross the current border to Greece to reach the Pythion station. The river crossing is done over a metallic bridge.

History

When the line opened, it fell entirely within the Ottoman Empire. However, after World War I, a new border was established between Greece and Turkey. The line from Pythion to Edirne fell within Greek territory, and only the İstanbul-Demirköprü section still remained in Turkish territory. In 1971, the State railways built a new line from Pehlivanköy to the Bulgarian border at Kapıkule, bypassing Greek territory. The original line to Pythion is still used for connections to Greece. Due to construction of the Marmaray commuter rail system in Istanbul as well as the rehabilitation of the eastern part of the railway, service between Çerkezköy and Istanbul is temporarily suspended.

See also

• Istanbul suburban for details between Sirkeci and Halkalı
• Çorlu train derailment occurred on 8 July 2018, caused by a damaged track structure following heavy rainfall. The accident resulted in derailed five of six cars, 24 dead and 318 injured passengers, including 42 severely.