İstanbul-Halkalı Line

İstanbul-Halkalı Line B1
E23020 (left) and E14048 (right) at Sirkeci Station.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Istanbul, Turkey
Termini	Sirkeci Terminal Halkalı
Stations	19
Daily ridership	22,236 (2008)
Operation
Opening	December 4, 1955
Owner	TCDD
Operator(s)	TCDD
Rolling stock	E23000, E14000, E8000 EMUs
Technical
Track length	25.27 kilometers (15.7 mi)
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	25 kV AC
Operating speed	40 km/h (25 mph) (average)
Route map Legend Distance     Station 0 Sirkeci 2.1 km (1.3 mi) Cankurtaran 3.8 km (2.4 mi) Kumkapı 4.8 km (3.0 mi) Yenikapı 6.5 km (4.0 mi) Kocamustafapaşa 7.4 km (4.6 mi) Yedikule 8.6 km (5.3 mi) Kazlıçeşme 9.7 km (6.0 mi) Zeytinburnu 11.8 km (7.3 mi) Yenimahalle 12.6 km (7.8 mi) Bakırköy 14.7 km (9.1 mi) Ataköy 16.5 km (10.3 mi) Yeşilyurt 17.6 km (10.9 mi) Yeşilköy 21.1 km (13.1 mi) Florya 22.2 km (13.8 mi) Menekşe 23.8 km (14.8 mi) Küçükçekmece 25.2 km (15.7 mi) Soğuksu 26.2 km (16.3 mi) Kanarya 27.6 km (17.1 mi) Halkalı

The İstanbul-Halkalı Line, also referred to as the İstanbul Commuter Railway, locally referred to as B1 (Turkish: İstanbul Banliyösü, is an important rail line in İstanbul, Turkey. It is operated by the Turkish State Railways and is one of Istanbul's two commuter rail lines (the other being the Haydarpaşa-Gebze Line). Carrying an average of 22,200 passengers daily, it is the second-busiest commuter railway in Turkey, after the Haydarpaşa Commuter Railway.

The İstanbul Commuter Railway also is a historical line, being the first rail line to be electrified and being the first commuter railway in Turkey. Since it opened on December 4, 1955, the E8000 series have been in operation. In the 1970s, the E14000 series came into service and in 2010 the new EUROTEM built E23000 series began service.

The eastern terminus is Sirkeci Terminal in the Fatih district in the historical city center. The line curves around the shore of the Eminönü peninsula, below the historic Topkapı Palace, and heads west. Travelling on the southern European shore of Istanbul, the line passes through several important districts, until curving north at Soğuksu to Halkalı.

Stations

History

A train arriving at Sirkeci station, with E8000 EMUs, in June, 2007.

The line was originally built by the Oriental Railway (CO) in 1872, as a part of their İstanbul-Vienna main line.^[1] The railway started to operate trains, when the line reached Edirne in 1873. The CO was absorbed by the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) in 1937 and TCDD started to operate steam-powered commuter service on the line. It wasn't until 1955, when the line was electrified from Sirkeci to Halkalı, that a frequent commuter service began. The newly retired E8000 EMUs were the first to run on the line along with 3 E4000 electric locomotives.^[2] In the 1970s, new E14000 EMUs started to appear on the line and in the 1990s, the E4000 locomotives were retired. New E23000 EMUs were put into service on September 19, 2010. With the addition of the new EMUs, the E8000s were finally retired.

References

v t e Mass transit in Istanbul Bus İETT Subway M1A (Aksaray - Atatürk Int'l Airport) (Yenikapı - Aksaray) (2014) M1B (Aksaray - Kirazlı) (Yenikapı - Aksaray) (2014) M2 (Şişhane - Hacıosman) (Yenikapı - Şişhane) (2014) M2 Shuttle (Sanayi Mahallesi - Seyrantepe TT Arena) M3 (Kirazlı - MetroKent / Olimpiyat Parkı) M4 (Kadıköy İDO - Kartal) (Kartal - Kaynarca) (2015) M5 (Üsküdar - Çekmeköy Sancaktepe) (2015) M6 (Levent - Hisarüstü) (2015) M7 (Şişli/Mecidiyeköy - Mahmutbey) (2017) Trams T1 (Bağcılar-Kabataş) T3 (Kadıköy-Moda) NT (Taksim-Tünel) Light rail T4 (Habibler-Topkapı) Commuter rail B1 (Sirkeci-Halkalı) B2 (Haydarpaşa-Gebze) Marmaray (Kazlıçeşme - Ayrılık Çeşmesi) (Ayrılık Çeşmesi - Gebze) Funicular F1 (Kabataş-Taksim) T (Tünel-Karaköy) Metrobus (Söğütlüçeşme-Beylikdüzü) Ferry Municipal ferry, Sea bus Aerial lift Tf1 (Maçka-Taşkışla) Tf2 (Eyüp-Piyerloti) Tf3 (Hisarüstü-Aşiyan) (2015) Payment Akbil Istanbulkart Lines in italic are under construction with planned opening year in parentheses.