Türkiye extends high-speed rail network to EU border

Türkiye opened the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule section of its Halkalı-Kapıkule railway on Friday, extending the national high-speed network to the Bulgarian border.

The new section is 153 kilometres (95.07 miles) long. It starts at Çerkezköy, a town in Tekirdağ province in southeastern Thrace, west of Istanbul inside Europe. It ends at Kapıkule, Türkiye’s main rail and road border crossing with Bulgaria, near the city of Edirne in the country’s far northwest.

“With the launch of our project, a new era will begin, and we will see its effects across a wide range of areas,” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told the opening ceremony in Kırklareli province in northeastern Thrace. EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos was also present.

Erdoğan said it would eventually serve as a boost to production, exports, employment, trade and tourism. “Our project will make a significant contribution to the Turkish economy,” he noted.

The new section is the longest part of the 229-kilometer Halkalı-Kapıkule project, which begins at Halkalı on Istanbul’s western edge. With the opening, Tekirdağ, Kırklareli and Edirne join the high-speed network.

Tekirdağ lies on the Sea of Marmara coast, Kırklareli in the northeast of Thrace along the Bulgarian border, and Edirne in the northwest corner where Türkiye meets both Bulgaria and Greece.

The line will connect not only continents but also Türkiye and the European Union, Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said.

“We will continue to work together to further advance our cooperation with the European Union on this project,” Uraloğlu added.

Greater capacity, faster journeys

The new line raises the number of Turkish provinces reached by high-speed rail to 14.

Erdoğan said the line will cut travel times sharply.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan speaks during an opening ceremony for the Çerkezköy-Kapıkule high-speed railway line in Kırklareli province, Türkiye, Oct. 9, 2026. (AA Photo)

Passenger journeys between Halkalı and Kapıkule will fall from four hours to 1.5 hours, while freight transit will drop from 8.5 hours to 3.5.

Annual passenger capacity is expected to rise from 600,000 to about 3 million, and annual freight capacity from 1.5 million to 9.5 million tons, according to officials.

“This means that transportation will become faster, logistics will improve, and travel times will be reduced,” said Erdoğan.

The project also covers new station buildings at Babaeski, Lüleburgaz and Büyükkarıştıran, and the reconstruction of the Kapıkule and Edirne stations. Babaeski and Lüleburgaz are towns in Kırklareli province, and Büyükkarıştıran is a settlement in Lüleburgaz district, also in Kırklareli.

European link

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu described the line as one of the most critical structures linking the Middle Corridor to Europe.

The Middle Corridor is the trade route connecting Asia and Europe through Central Asia, the Caucasus and Türkiye. Kapıkule, on the Bulgarian frontier, is where this line meets the European rail network. The project is designed for 200 kph passenger services and is part of the Trans-European Transport Networks.

The EU contributed to the financing. The 153-kilometer section was co-financed by the EU and Türkiye, while the remaining 76 kilometers of the Halkalı-Kapıkule route was built by the Transport and Infrastructure Ministry.

Uraloğlu acknowledged the EU’s role, saying the project was partly financed with EU pre-accession (IPA) funds.

Uraloğlu also placed the project within Türkiye’s wider rail expansion, saying the country has grown its rail network from 10,948 to 14,272 kilometers and built 2,604 kilometers of high-speed track from scratch.

Erdoğan said transportation investments have been at the top of the list of areas where he says they have propelled Türkiye forward over the past 24 years.

“During our time in office, the present-day value of our transportation investments has risen to $354 billion. Railways account for $80 billion of this total,” he noted.

DAILYSABAH