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Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said the Eskisehir-Istanbul High-Speed Train (YHT) line, which introduced high-speed rail service to Türkiye, has carried a total of 62.9 million passengers since it began operating 12 years ago.
Minister Uraloglu issued a written statement marking the 12th anniversary of the Eskisehir-Istanbul YHT line entering service.
Uraloglu noted that the line's opening in 2009 marked the start of high-speed rail travel in Türkiye and recalled that the Eskisehir-Istanbul line began carrying passengers on July 27, 2014, establishing a connection between Ankara and Istanbul.
He said that after the Eskisehir-Istanbul line entered service, the same route was later used to launch high-speed services on the Konya-Istanbul line that same year, followed by the Karaman-Istanbul line in 2022 and the Sivas-Istanbul line in 2024.
"As a result, the Eskisehir-Istanbul line has grown beyond simply connecting two cities; it has become the backbone of a high-speed rail network extending from various cities to Istanbul. This has made it one of the busiest high-speed rail routes in our country," Uraloglu said.
Uraloglu emphasized that, through stations in Bozuyuk, Bilecik, Pamukova, Arifiye, Izmit, Gebze, Pendik, Bostanci and Sogutlucesme, the Eskisehir-Istanbul YHT line directly connects five provinces and a population of more than 20 million to high-speed rail travel.
Noting that the line links major Turkish industrial, manufacturing, trade and technology hubs, including Eskisehir, Bilecik, Sakarya, Kocaeli and Istanbul, via the high-speed rail network, Uraloglu said:
"Through the Eskisehir-Istanbul YHT line alone, we provide direct high-speed rail service to 23% of the country's population. Since the line entered service, citizens have shown strong interest in it. We have served a total of 62.9 million passengers since the line opened," he stated.
''With demand rising every year, the line continues to be one of the busiest routes on our high-speed rail network. In 2025, 9.1 million passengers used the Eskisehir-Istanbul YHT line. In 2026, we have served approximately 5.3 million passengers so far.
An average of 25,730 passengers travel on the Eskisehir-Istanbul YHT line each day. With a total of 44 round-trip services, we are transporting our citizens quickly and comfortably."
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