During the Eid al-Fitr holiday, additional capacity for almost 9,000 people was created on trains.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu attended the traditional Iftar program of TCDD Taşımacılık AŞ held at Eryaman YHT Workshop.

In his speech here, Minister Uraloğlu stated that the railway network, which was about 11,000 kilometers in 2002, was expanded to about 14,000 kilometers, of which 2,251 kilometers were accounted for by the high-speed rail network.

Noting that the construction of new routes such as the Halkalı-Kapıkule, Ankara-İzmir, Bandırma-Bursa-Yenişehir-Osmaneli, Mersin-Adana-Osmaniye-Gaziantep, Yerköy-Kayseri, Kırıkkale-Çorum high-speed train lines and the railway line Kars-Iğdır-Aralık-Dilucu, Uraloğlu said: “We are improving our railway network. “We want to expand it to 17,287 kilometers by 2028 and hopefully to 28,590 kilometers by 2053,” he said.

Stating that passenger rail transportation has entered a new era in Turkey, especially with high-speed trains, Uraloğlu said: “High-speed trains have not only connected cities but also radically changed the transportation habits of our citizens. It has become a preferred mode of transportation thanks to the high speed, comfort, economy and safety advantages it provides.” he said.

The number of passengers using high-speed trains was nearly 109 million

Stating that the majority of citizens traveling from Ankara to Eskişehir, Istanbul, Konya, Karaman or Sivas prefer rail, Uraloğlu stated that about 109 million citizens have traveled by high-speed trains so far.

Stating that last year was a productive and successful year in terms of rail transportation, Uraloğlu gave the following assessments:

“Last year, we served around 283 million passengers in our high-speed trains, long-distance trains, regional trains and urban lines Ankara-Kars and Kars-Ankara directions “Our trains served 10 thousand 166 passengers.”

Additional capacity of 8,000 898 people on trains for Eid al-Fitr

Pointing out that citizens' demand for intercity transportation will increase during the Eid al-Fitr festival, Uraloğlu said, “Similarly, demand will also increase in the suburbs we operate high-speed trains on March 19, 22 and 23. “By organizing the service, we will provide transportation options to 2,000 more citizens.” “In addition, by adding 100 additional carriages to our main and regional trains, we will also offer an additional seating capacity of 6,000 people,” he said.

About 90 percent of ticket sales on high-speed trains occur through digital channels.

Stating that with the passenger transportation platform, ticketing, reservation and customer service processes were brought under one roof, Uraloğlu stated that three thousand trees could not be cut down thanks to the digitization of about 24 million tickets per year.

Uraloğlu stated that last year, 45 percent of total ticket sales were made through mobile applications and 24 percent were made through the website, and that about 90 percent of ticket sales in high-speed trains were made through digital channels.

Uraloğlu pointed out that these numbers are concrete evidence of how citizens' trust in railways and modern transportation habits have been strengthened:

“These tariffs show us all that trains are now not only a popular, but also a consciously preferred means of transport. With the “Navigation Safety Platform”, which we put into operation as part of our other important project “Train Monitoring and Coordination Center”, we have installed artificial intelligence-supported camera systems on 572 locomotives. Warnings Thanks to the project, the last 5 “I would like to point out that there has been an improvement of more than 50 percent per year in serious accidents.”

Emphasizing that they safely transport passengers to their loved ones with the experience and sense of responsibility gained from the 169-year railway tradition, Ufuk Yalçın, General Manager of TCDD Taşımacılık AŞ, stated that they contribute to the development of Türkiye by promoting the labor of manufacturers and industrialists.

On the other hand, the employees concerned were awarded plaques for their contribution to the dissemination and development of the safety culture in the workplace.