Halkalı railway station

The ongoing Halkalı-Kapıkule High-Speed Railway project, a key component of the Asia-Europe corridor, is driving investment in Thrace, a region bordering Istanbul.

The project, announced in 2019, is expected to significantly reduce travel time between Halkalı and Kapıkule, boosting both passenger and freight transportation.

The Sirkeci-Halkalı suburban trains, Istanbul's first railway line which were decommissioned a decade ago, will be put back into service for touristic purposes.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu has stated that in the last 10 years, 1 billion passengers have traveled with Marmaray, an undersea railway tunnel connecting Europe and Asia via the Bosporus Strait.

The train services between Istanbul and Bulgaria's capital of Sofia, which were halted on March 11, 2020, due to the coronavirus pandemic, will begin on April 25, the Turkish Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry has announced.

"Following talks between the two countries' railways administrations, the decision has been taken," the ministry said in a statement on April 20.