Ankararailway station is the main railway station in Ankara, Turkey, and is a major transportation hub within the city. The station is the eastern terminus of the Istanbul-Ankara railway corridor, as well as the easternmost station in Turkey with high-speed rail service. Ankara station is also a hub for YHT high-speed trains, with its own exclusive platforms and concourse. TCDD Taşımacılık also operates intercity train service to Kars, Tatvan and Kurtalan as well as Başkentray commuter rail service. Located within the historic Ulus quarter, the station is a landmark of the city. In 2016, a new building was opened above the YHT platforms known as Ankara Tren Garı. The ATG building serves as a hub for high-speed rail with its own concourse containing information and tickets booths, waiting rooms and a VIP lounge, and is connected to the rest of the station via a skybridge.
History
Ottoman Empire period (1892–1922)
The original builder, the Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie, was engaged in shipping war materials to the fronts in Palestine and Mesopotamia during World War I. Therefore, between 1914 and 1918 the Ankara station had no passenger service and very little freight service. The CFOA fell under British military control after the war, but the Turkish Nationalists captured Ankara and parts of the CFOA. During the Turkish Independence War, CFOA transported troops from Ankara, as the newly named capital of Turkey, to the front near Eskişehir.
After the Turkish independence war ended, the passenger train services from Istanbul to Ankara resumed. The CFOA, now under Turkish control, finally opened the line to Kayseri and Ankara was no longer the terminus. CFOA was then acquired by the Turkish State Railways on June 1, 1927, and Ankara station was placed under TCDD control. In 1927 the Anatolian Express was inaugurated as a premier overnight train from Istanbul to Ankara operated by the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. The current Art deco building was built in 1937 by German architects. As TCDD completed rail lines to other cities, new train services from Ankara such as the 9th of September Express to Izmir, the Eastern Express to Kars, and the Southern Express to Diyarbakır and Kurtalan made Ankara station one of the busiest stations in Turkey. In 1972, the station, along with the track between Sincan and Kayaş, were electrified with 25 kV ACcatenary for the Ankara Suburban Railway. In 1993 the Istanbul-Ankara line was fully electrified. In the 1990s TCDD opened a steam museum next to the station. In 2009 a high-speed train service operated from Ankara to Eskişehir. The 2015 Ankara bombings occurred on 10 October 2015 at 10:04 local time in Ankara. Two bombs were detonated outside the entrance of the Ankara Central railway station, killing more than 105 and injuring more than 400 people. The attack is the deadliest of its kind in Turkey's modern history.
