Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu reported that between March 29 and April 1, a total of 2,876,475 passengers used the high-speed trains (YHT), mainline, regional trains and urban rail systems operated by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD).
In a written statement, Uraloğlu shared the travel data for the Ramadan Bayram period conducted by rail. He reminded that an additional 12,786-person capacity increase was implemented to meet the growing demand on YHT, mainline and regional trains. “From March 29 to April 1, 2,876,475 passengers used the YHT, mainline and regional trains, along with urban rail systems operated by TCDD,” he stated.
Uraloğlu pointed out that during the three-day holiday period, free services were provided on the Başkentray, Marmaray, Izban, Sirkeci-Kazlıçeşme and Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport-Arnavutköy lines.
He highlighted that on the Ankara-Istanbul route, 2,466 additional seats were provided with six extra YHT services, noting, “Between March 29 and April 1, 138,978 passengers traveled by YHTs.”
Uraloğlu also mentioned that the addition of 172 carriages to various express and regional train services added 10,320 seats.
He assessed that “with mainline and regional trains, we carried 137,124 passengers during this period. Thus, 276,102 passengers traveled by high-speed, mainline and regional trains.”
In Istanbul, Uraloğlu shared information about the passenger numbers on rail systems operated by TCDD, primarily Marmaray, and the Halkalı-Bahçeşehir, Sirkeci-Kazlıçeşme, Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport-Arnavutköy metro lines.
He noted, “Marmaray, the century’s project connecting the two sides of Istanbul by rail, served 2,156,902 passengers between Gebze and Halkalı. The Halkalı-Bahçeşehir Line served 284 passengers, the Sirkeci-Kazlıçeşme Line served 34,310, and the Gayrettepe-Istanbul Airport-Arnavutköy Line served 117,565 passengers. In Ankara, the Sincan-Kayaş line, integrated with YHT, also saw a steady increase in passengers. We served 291,312 passengers on Başkentray during this period.”
Uraloğlu stated that between March 29 and April 1, 2,600,373 passengers used the mentioned urban rail systems.