Sirkeci

A new project designed to unify public transportation across the country under a single card system is set to begin partial implementation in Istanbul, with plans to expand the program nationwide.

The Türkiye Card rollout in Istanbul follows an Oct. 31 decision by the megacity's transportation coordination center UKOME.

Authorities are actively working to transform Istanbul's historic Sirkeci and Haydarpaşa train stations into hubs of art and culture, with renovations expected to be completed by 2026, Culture and Tourism Minister Mehmet Nuri Ersoy has announced.

Renowned for his photography and documentary films on Istanbul's urban transformation, Timurtaş Onan dedicates his latest book to the inns and inhabitants of the Historical Peninsula and Sirkeci.

The Orient Express is leaving Istanbul on June 7, continuing its journey back to Paris with its next round of passengers.

The luxury train, which departed from Paris on June 1 and having passed through Zurich, Vienna, Budapest, Bucharest and Varna, arrived in Istanbul on June 5 where it was greeted by a Mehteran (Ottoman band) group at Sirkeci station.

Renowned travel guide Lonely Planet has named Istanbul's Sirkeci-Kazlıçeşme railway line as one of Europe's must-see rail routes.

The railway line was recently renovated in line with a project initiated by the Transportation and Infrastructure Ministry.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on April 22 arrived in Istanbul as he embarked on a three-day tour to Türkiye, marking his first visit to the country in his seven-year duty as the head of the state.

Istanbul Governor Davut Gül, German Ambassador to Ankara Jürgen Schulz and Turkish Ambassador to Berlin Ahmet Başar Şen welcomed Steinmeier at Istanbul Airport.

Street and house ruins from the Early Byzantine and Late Roman Period, unearthed during the excavations at Marmaray's Sirkeci Station in 2009-2011, will be opened to visitors by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (İBB) in the second stage of Sarayburnu Park at the Istanbul Historic Peninsula Model Exhibition.

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.

Located in Istanbul's Kadıköy district, Ragıp Pasha Pavilion, popularly known as the "haunted pavilion," has been put up for judicial sale for 449 million Turkish liras ($26.5 million).

The public auction will be on Sept. 2.

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.