Turkiye is accelerating the development of its high-speed rail network, with the connection to the city of Bursa in its final stages, while the country aims to reach 6,000 km of high-speed rail lines by 2035.
Work on the Bursa–Osmaneli section of Turkiye’s high-speed rail project has reached its final phase. Bursa will be directly connected to the high-speed rail network, and trips to Ankara and Istanbul will take just 2 hours and 15 minutes.
Turkiye is nearing completion of one of the major railway projects in the western part of the country. Minister of Transport and Infrastructure Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced that work on the Bursa–Osmaneli section of the Bandırma–Bursa–Yenişehir–Osmaneli project has reached its final stage, with the goal of completing this section by the end of this year.
The new line will integrate the city of Bursa into the national high-speed rail network for the first time, providing direct connections to Ankara and Istanbul and significantly reducing travel times.
The Bandırma–Bursa–Yenişehir–Osmaneli project is designed for a speed of 250 km/h and will have a total length of 201 km. According to Turkish authorities, the infrastructure will be able to serve 30 million passengers annually and transport 59 million tons of freight, strengthening the role of rail transport for both mobility and logistics.
The minister noted that work on the 106-km section between Bursa and Osmaneli is nearly complete. Once operational, this will allow trains departing from Bursa to connect to the Ankara–Istanbul high-speed line via the Osmaneli railway junction.
As a result, travel time between Bursa and Ankara, and between Bursa and Istanbul, will be reduced to approximately 2 hours and 15 minutes, compared to current travel times, which are considerably longer by road.
On the route between Osmaneli and Bursa, which includes the stations Osmaneli, Yenişehir, Yenişehir Airport, Gürsu, and Bursa, earthworks, tunnels, and engineering structures have been completed. Currently, the project is in the final phase of railway superstructure work.
Turkish authorities have stated that the Osmaneli–Bursa section is scheduled for completion in the second half of this year, while work on the segment continuing westward through Teknosab, Karacabey, Dağkadı, and Kuşcenneti is expected to be completed in 2028.
The project is of strategic importance for Turkiye, as it will create a high-speed rail link between the industrial and port regions of the Sea of Marmara and the country’s main economic centers. In addition, the integration of freight transport on this route is expected to reduce pressure on the road network and contribute to the transportation sector’s sustainability and energy efficiency goals.
Bursa Joins Turkiye’s High-Speed Network
The completion of the Bursa–Osmaneli section, announced for the second half of this year, represents more than just the commissioning of a new railway line. The project is part of a broader strategy through which Turkiye is transforming its high-speed rail network into one of the most extensive systems in the region, strengthening its position as a bridge between Europe and Asia.
Currently, Turkiye has approximately 2,251 km of high-speed and rapid rail lines, with the network centered around the Ankara–Istanbul axis, the country’s main economic corridor. With the completion of the Bursa–Osmaneli section, Bursa will become one of the most important urban centers directly integrated into the high-speed rail system, reducing travel time to Ankara and Istanbul to approximately two hours and 15 minutes.
An Unprecedented Expansion Plan
Authorities in Ankara aim to expand the high-speed network to over 4,100 km by 2027 and to approximately 6,000 km by 2035. The strategy aims to connect the country’s main economic and industrial centers via modern, electrified infrastructure designed for high-speed train traffic.
Currently, high-speed and integrated rail services provide direct access to 20 cities and approximately 51% of Turkiye’s population. Cities already connected include Ankara, Istanbul, Eskişehir, Konya, Karaman, Sivas, Sakarya, Kocaeli, and Yozgat.
According to data published in the UIC High-Speed Atlas 2024, 1,720 km of high-speed lines were under construction in Turkiye, including the Bandırma–Bursa–Yenişehir–Osmaneli project. At the same time, authorities are preparing another 2,186 km of new lines designed for speeds exceeding 200 km/h.
Among the most important planned projects are the Eskişehir–Antalya (428 km), Delice–Samsun (293 km), Sivas–Erzincan (242 km), Erzincan–Kars (382 km), Kayseri–Antalya (541 km), and Gaziantep–Mardin (300 km) connections. Most of these investments are concentrated in the western half of the country, where the largest economic and industrial centers are located.
Turkiye is investing in its own high-speed trains
The expansion of infrastructure is accompanied by the development of a domestic industry capable of supplying the necessary rolling stock. The state-owned company TÜRASAŞ is building in Sakarya the first factory and testing facility dedicated to high-speed trains developed entirely in Turkiye.
The new facility, which will cover approximately 15,000 square meters, is intended for the production of the first generation of high-speed trains designed and manufactured locally. These are designed for commercial speeds of up to 225 km/h.
However, tests conducted in recent months have yielded even more promising results. The Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, announced that the first high-speed train developed in Turkiye reached 240 km/h during the testing program, surpassing the 225 km/h threshold previously recorded during dynamic braking tests.
Thus, in addition to rapidly expanding its infrastructure, Turkiye aims to reduce its dependence on foreign suppliers and build a comprehensive railway ecosystem, from line design to train manufacturing. In this context, projects such as Bursa–Osmaneli represent not only new rail connections but also key elements of a national strategy through which Turkiye aims to become one of the leading players in high-speed rail transport in the Eurasian region.
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