Edirne Central Station

The Edirne railway station (Turkish:Edirne garı) is the main railway station for the city of Edirne. The station is located in the southeast of the city. The station services regional trains to İstanbul and international trains to Bucharest and Belgrade.

History

When the Chemins de fer Orientaux (CO) started building their main line between İstanbul and Vienna during the Ottoman Empire, they built the line to also service Edirne. However this line didn't enter the city, instead the railway built a station in the town of Karaağaç, 4 km southwest of Edirne. The beautiful Karaağaç Railway Station opened with a grand main building. After the Turkish Independence War and the Treaty of Lausanne signed, stating Turkey's borders, the rail line exited Turkey into Greece at Uzunköprü and came back into Turkey at Edirne, then went back into Greece. This became a problem for Greek and Turkish rail service, so in 1971, the Turkish State Railways built a cut off line known as the Edirne Cut-off from Pehlivanköy up the Turkish Greek border to Edirne and built the line through the city and further northwest to Bulgaria. This however lead to the abandonment of the Karaağaç station. In 1997 the line was electrified.

Service