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Travel time on the Ankara-Istanbul High-Speed Train (YHT) line will be reduced by 30 minutes once ongoing work is completed, Türkiye's Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu said.
The journey, which currently takes 4 hours and 7 minutes by YHT, will be reduced to 3 hours and 37 minutes after works on the T26 Tunnel and Dogancay Ripage-2 sections are finished.
Uraloglu said the works are being carried out under the responsibility of the General Directorate of Turkish State Railways, known as TCDD.
He noted that three critical bottlenecks exist on the Eskisehir-Istanbul section of the Ankara-Istanbul YHT route. The 12-kilometer Dogancay Ripage-1 section was opened in 2022, while the T26 Tunnel and Dogancay Ripage-2 projects are designed to remove the remaining constraints on the line.
"The T26 Tunnel and Dogancay Ripage-2 sections will completely remove the bottlenecks on the Ankara-Istanbul YHT Line," Uraloglu said.
According to Uraloglu, the T26 Tunnel will ensure line continuity across the Alifuatpasa-Arifiye section, enabling train operations at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour.
At present, high-speed trains have to move through a 9.2-kilometer conventional rail section at an average speed of around 55 kilometers per hour. The new 8-kilometer tunnel will bypass that slower stretch.
Uraloglu said travel time on the Bozuyuk-Bilecik section will be cut short from 20 minutes to 9 minutes after the tunnel is completed. He added that the project will also reduce delays caused by train crossings on a single-track connection and lift operational restrictions on freight trains.
Infrastructure works on the 5,587-meter tunnel have been completed, while superstructure, electrification, and signaling works continue.
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Uraloglu described Dogancay Ripage-2 as one of the most critical sections of the Ankara-Istanbul YHT line.
The project includes tunnel, safety tunnel and viaduct works. Once completed, the travel time on this section will fall from 23 minutes to 4 minutes, bringing a total time saving of 19 minutes on the route.
Together, the two projects are expected to bring down the overall journey time between the Turkish capital and Istanbul from 4 hours and 7 minutes to 3 hours and 37 minutes.
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