High speed railway launched between Ankara, Sivas
ANKARA
A new high-speed train service has been launched between the capital Ankara and the Central Anatolian province of Sivas.
The train will depart from Ankara’s high-speed train station and pass through the nearby provinces of Kırıkkale and Yozgat before it reaches Sivas, Transport Minister Adil Karaismailoğlu informed at the new line’s inauguration ceremony.
The line will have eight stations, namely Elmadağ, Kırıkkale, Yerköy, Yozgat, Sorgun, Akdağmadeni, Yıldızeli and Sivas, the minister elaborated.
“We reduced the distance between Ankara and Sivas from 603 kilometers to 405 kilometers with our line and the travel time from 12 hours to two hours,” Karaismailoğlu said. “With the connection of Kırıkkale, Yozgat and Sivas stations to the high-speed train network, we enable around 1.4 million citizens living in these provinces to travel by this service.”
The new Ankara-Sivas line will host many passengers coming from cities such as Konya, Eskişehir and Istanbul, thus high-speed trains will serve nearly 50 percent of the country’s population in 20 provinces, directly in 11 provinces on Ankara-Eskişehir-Istanbul, Ankara-Konya, Konya-Karaman and Ankara-Sivas routes, and indirectly in nine neighboring provinces, he added.
The minister also pointed out that an important part of the Kayseri line was also completed thanks to the new service, reiterating that works are underway to add Kayseri on the high-speed train route.
Explaining that a total of 49 tunnels with a length of 66 kilometers and 49 viaducts of 27.2 kilometers in length on the Ankara-Sivas line, Karaismailoğlu said, “Our giant artifacts, which we have brought to all corners of Türkiye at the same time, serve our nation’s fast, safe and comfortable transportation.”
“These investments paved the way for Türkiye,” he said. “We will continue to illuminate the future of our country in the fastest way and with the right steps. We will present the projects we have started to the service of our nation one by one.”