Travel Time Between Ankara and Istanbul to Drop Below 4 Hours

Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that the critical projects on the Ankara-Istanbul High-Speed Train line are aimed to be completed in the first half of 2027. Minister Uraloğlu stated that with these projects, the travel time between Ankara and Istanbul will decrease by 30 minutes, dropping below 4 hours.Highlighting the significant steps taken in high-speed train investments, Uraloğlu emphasized that since the Ankara-Eskişehir line started operating in 2009, 114 million passengers have traveled by YHT.Upon the completion of the T26 Tunnel and Doğançay Ripajı-2 Project, the line will reach a continuous speed of 250 kilometers per hour, Uraloğlu pointed out, which will result in a 30-minute reduction in travel time between Ankara and Istanbul, bringing it below 4 hours.Uraloğlu stressed the importance of the approximately 5,587-meter-long T26 Tunnel in the Alifuatpaşa-Arifiye section and reported that the excavation work on the tunnel has been completed, while other work is ongoing.With the completion of the Doğançay Ripajı-2 Project, the travel time in this section will decrease from 23 minutes to 4 minutes, Uraloğlu stated, aiming for a total time saving of 30 minutes on the Ankara-Istanbul YHT line upon the completion of the projects.