Turkey's Ankara‑İstanbul High‑Speed Rail Travel Time Cut to 3h 37m

Turkey’s transport ministry announced that the Ankara‑İstanbul high‑speed rail (YHT) line will see its travel time reduced from 4 hours 7 minutes to 3 hours 37 minutes once the T26 tunnel and Doğançay Ripajı‑2 projects are completed. The works eliminate three critical bottlenecks on the Eskişehir‑İstanbul segment, allowing trains to run at up to 250 km/h.

The 8‑km T26 tunnel will bypass a 9.2‑km conventional section that previously limited speeds to about 55 km/h, cutting the Bozüyük‑Bilecik segment from 11 minutes to 9 minutes. The Doğançay Ripajı‑2 works, comprising more than 7 km of tunnels and a viaduct, will lower the travel time for its section from 23 minutes to 4 minutes, delivering a total gain of 19 minutes on the route. Overall, the upgrades are expected to save up to 30 minutes per trip and increase yearly capacity to 12 million passengers and 14 million tonnes of freight.