Minister of Transport and Infrastructure of Türkiye, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu stated, "The number of passengers who have traveled by high-speed rail (YHT) has exceeded 76 million so far."
He stated that high-speed rail was directly facilitating the lives of 35% of the country's population in the 11 provinces it passed through, and with combined transport, this number had now reached 53% of the population.
Abdulkadir Uraloğlu made evaluations regarding the high-speed rail lines that started operating for the first time in March 2009 on the Ankara-Eskişehir route and currently serve in 11 provinces.
Uraloğlu emphasized that Türkiye was positioned as the 8th country in the world and the 6th country in Europe in terms of utilizing high-speed rail (YHT) technology. He also reminded that YHT services were provided on the Ankara-Istanbul, Ankara-Konya, Ankara-Eskişehir, Konya-Istanbul, Ankara-Karaman, Istanbul-Karaman, Eskişehir-Istanbul lines, and most recently on the Ankara-Sivas line, which was inaugurated on April 26, 2023.
Uraloğlu also noted that the high-speed rail, which stands out with its fast, comfortable, and reliable service, made 66 trips per day on the mentioned lines. He stated, "Approximately 40,000 people travel with the comfort of the high-speed rail every day. High-speed rail directly facilitates the lives of 35% of the country's population in the 11 provinces it passes through, and with combined transport, this number reaches about 53% of the population."
It offers significant time efficiency.
Uraloğlu stated that nearly 76 million passengers had been transported by the high-speed rail to date, and he mentioned that high-speed rail operated directly to Ankara, Eskişehir, Konya, Bilecik, Sakarya, Kocaeli, Istanbul, Karaman, Yozgat, Kırıkkale, and Sivas, enabling sinificant time efficiency
Combined transport is also available to Malatya, Bursa, Kütahya, Tavşanlı, Afyonkarahisar, Denizli, Izmir, Antalya, Manavgat, Alanya, and Adana via bus or train connections.
Uraloğlu stated that combined transport with high-speed rail and bus or high-speed rail and train connections provided significant time savings compared to traveling by bus alone.
"The importance of hours has now diminished."
Minister Uraloğlu highlighted that along with safety and comfort, significant time efficiency was achieved. He stated, "While the travel time between Istanbul-Konya-Antalya (Alanya) by bus is 11 hours, with high-speed rail plus bus connection it becomes 10 hours. Similarly, the travel time between Konya-Ankara-Sivas by bus is 7 hours, but with high-speed rail it is reduced to 4 hours and 45 minutes. For Istanbul-Konya-Karaman, the bus travel time is 11 hours and 30 minutes, whereas with high-speed rail connection it is 6 hours and 55 minutes. Furthermore, for Istanbul-Eskişehir-Kütahya-Tavşanlı, the bus travel time is 7 hours, but with high-speed rail connection it is reduced to 4 hours and 45 minutes. Similarly, for Ankara-Eskişehir-Kütahya-Tavşanlı, the bus travel time is 4 hours, but with high-speed rail connection it is shortened to 2 hours and 46 minutes. The importance of hours has now diminished."
