Sirkeci railway station
Istanbul | |||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
OHLE | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Sirkeci railway station (
History
After the
The terminal building
.jpg)
The construction of a new terminal building began on 11 February 1888.[4] The terminus, which was initially named "Müşir Ahmet Paşa Station", was opened on 3 November 1890, replacing the temporary one. The architect of the project was August Jasmund,[4] a Prussian who was sent to Istanbul by the German government in order to study Ottoman architecture, but lectured architectural design at the School of Polytechnics in Istanbul (now Istanbul Technical University). The terminal building which rises on an area of 1,200 m2 (13,000 sq ft) is one of the most famous examples of European Orientalism, and has influenced the designs of other architects. The building was also modern, having gas lighting and heating provided by large tile stoves, made in Austria,[4] in winter.
The terminal restaurant became a meeting point for journalists, writers and other prominent people from the media in the 1950s and 1960s. The same restaurant, today called "Orient Express", is a popular spot among tourists.
The station is preserved in its original state, but the areas around the terminal building have largely changed since 1890. The Istanbul Railway Museum, which opened in September 2005, is located in the station.[4]
Members of the
International lines
Until 2013, the terminal was the endpoint of the lines connecting Turkey to the rest of Europe. It connected to two neighbouring countries. One service connected Istanbul with
Orient Express
On 4 October 1883, the first , ending in Sirkeci. The journey of 3,094 kilometres (1,923 mi) took 80 hours.
The direct Orient Express was withdrawn on 19 May 1977, and the Orient Express via Vienna was cut back, terminating at Budapest and later Vienna. With the opening in 2007 of a new high-speed line from Paris to Strasbourg, the Orient Express was cut again to run only from Strasbourg to Vienna, before finally being entirely withdrawn in 2009 after over 130 years.[6]
This is not to be confused with the Venice-Simplon Orient Express, a luxury tourist train using restored coaches from the 1930s. The VSOE still makes one journey per year to Istanbul, but mostly travels between Calais and Venice.[7]
Service
Between July 2005 and February 2011, the
Since May 2013 there are currently no international trains from Sirkeci Terminal. For trains to Bulgaria only, there is a replacement bus service to Halkalı from where a daily train to Sofia with through cars to Bucharest is offered.[8]
| Previous | Turkish State Railways |
Next |
|---|---|---|
Terminus |
Bucharest | |
Balkans Express |
Belgrade | |
Uzunköprü | ||
Istanbul-Çerkezköy Regional |
||
Marmaray station
Sirkeci | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
25 kV AC | |||||||||||
| Passengers | |||||||||||
| 2017 | 24,329 Average daily ridership | ||||||||||
| Services | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Sirkeci is an underground railway station along the trans-Bosphorus Marmaray tunnel. This underground station was opened on 29 October 2013 along with four other stations (Kazlıçeşme, Yenikapı, Üsküdar and Ayrılık Çeşmesi) on the Marmaray line. Sirkeci is serviced by TCDD trains running between Kazlıçeşme (west of Sirkeci) and Ayrılık Çeşmesi (east of Sirkeci on the Asian side) with 6- to 10-minute intervals. Once the rehabilitation of the existing rail lines are complete, Marmaray commuter service will run west to Halkalı and east to Gebze. This service is expected to commence in 2016.
Construction of the Marmaray tunnel started in 2004 and was expected to open in April 2009. However, due to several important archaeological discoveries at Yenikapı, the opening was delayed until October 2013.[9][10]
Sirkeci saw 681,212 boardings in February 2017, making it the fourth busiest station on the Marmaray line. Sirkeci made up 14% of all passenger boardings on the line.
Layout
| Track 1 | → ← Ataköy or Halkalı
|
Island platform 
| |
| Track 2 | → Marmaray toward Maltepe or Gebze → |
Public transport links
- Suburban train Sirkeci-Halkalı
- Several bus lines
- Istanbul Modern TramT1
- Ferryboat Sirkeci-Kabataş
- Sea bus Sirkeci-Adalar
- Car-ferryboat Sirkeci-Harem
- Train-ferryboat Sirkeci Terminal-Haydarpaşa Terminal(not passenger use)
- Nearby Eminönü (200 m distance) has ferries to Kadıköy and Üsküdar
- New Marmaray suburban railway that connects European and Asian Istanbul through a tunnel under the Bosporus.
See also
- Haydarpaşa Terminal, the other major train terminal of Istanbul, on the Asian side
- List of railway stations in Turkey
- Public transport in Istanbul
- Orient Express
- Marmaray, a commuter rail line with a tunnel under the Bosphorus that connects the European railways via Sirkeci to the Asian railways.
References
- ^ "Sirkeci - Duraktan Geçen Hatlar" (in Turkish). Retrieved 20 December 2017.
- ^ "Orient Express". britannica.com. Encyclopædia Britannica. 21 December 2023.
- TRT(in Turkish). 25 February 2024. Retrieved 1 April 2024.
- ^ a b c d "Turkish State Railways". Archived from the original on 28 March 2013. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
- ^ "How to travel by train from London to Istanbul & Turkey". seat61.com. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ "A history of the Orient Express - the truth behind the legend..." www.seat61.com. Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ "VSOE website". Retrieved 19 August 2023.
- ^ Turkish Railways website (in Turkish) Archived 2012-06-04 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Marmaray tunnel opens to Link Europe with Asia - Railway Gazette International, 29 October 2013.
- ^ TCDD launches Eskişehir - Konya high-speed rail service - Railway Gazette International, 28 March 2013.
External links
- Trains of Turkey - Stations, Istanbul - Sirkeci