Why Turkey has the most UNDERRATED bullet trains in the world (250km/h!)
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Today I’m showing you why THIS country has Europe’s most underrated rail network, as I take you with me on my 450km journey from Istanbul to Ankara in business class on Turkey’s excellent new high-speed train.
This was my first trip on Turkey’s YHT and I was so impressed. If you are planning your own solo travel trip to Türkiye or looking to go backpacking there, I can’t recommend it enough 🙂
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#travel #turkey #trains
0:00 The most underrated railway in Europe
0:36 Istanbul train stations – Haydarpaşa
1:42 Istanbul train stations – Söğütlüçeşme
5:21 Turkey YHT in business class
6:45 Türkite high-speed train Istanbul to Ankara
9:25 Turkey YHT dining car
10:05 How much high-speed rail does Turkey have?
12:25 250km/h bullet train in Europe
24 Comments
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I absolutely LOVED my time in Turkey, and I'm really grateful to all the nice people who made me feel welcome there. What are some other places that I should make sure to visit next time I'm there? ❤🇹🇷
➡ 31-hour train ride across Turkey in a seat: https://youtu.be/5ipPqkCl6hM
➡ 24 hours wild camping in Germany: https://youtu.be/CahINDfsA-M
The ministry of transport even announced recently that they are make a new line between Istanbul and Ankara which will hit a high speed of 350km/h and will only take 80 minutes instead of 4 hours with the current YHT
I believe that Siemens helped to design these trains.
2:25 That's a photo of Grand Central Terminal and it's still there and still in use. Your point is still correct though.
Great video, but the route shown at 6:15 is horribly wrong
Q: "Why this country's bullet trains are the most UNDERRATED in Europe"
A: Because those trains run in the Anatolia peninsula, which is not part of Europe….
The train type you were on is not the entirety of the YHT network. They also have a few Siemens trains (model used in Germany as well) that even appeared in video that I believe have way higher comfort.
dont forget: they are also building a super high speed rail line from ankara to istanbul which journey will take 90 minutes and speed of 350kmh! project will be named ankara-istanbul süper hizli tren
Tom Thorntondahl, my long lost cousin.
Can't be the most underrated in Europe when it's not in Europe!
Hell yeah! we travelled Istanbul – Karaman in First Class for like 16€ each. It was incredible comfortable, the board service is crazy, with a lunch and drinks provided. I loved it. can't wait to be back in turkey, incredible country and insane hospitality by the locals
🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸
HI TOM THORNTON DO YOU NEED THUMBNAIL DESIGNER?
Man, that ad segment was such a throwback to when DNA tests were all the rage on YouTube. Good on you for getting those brand deals, Viking Tom!
Fantastic video! A few remarks:
It is confirmed that Haydarpaşa, the main train station on the Asian side of Istanbul, will reopen again either this year or more likely in the first half of 2025. The station will have 5 tracks that will be exclusively utilized by YHT high speed trains.
Söğütlüçeşme is also undergoing a major expansion, with an additional platform, one more track for long distance trains, and multiple new facilities currently under construction.
You should have also visited Sirkeci, the terminus station on the European side of Istanbul. That station was also dormant for over 10 years, and just recently reopened and connected to the network. It’s unfortunately unclear if European sleeper trains will terminate here again. The only long-distance train that made it recently to Sirkeci was the VSOE (Orient Express) from Paris to Istanbul.
In regards to the intermediate stations alongside your route. For budget and train speed purposes, the decision was made, to build the tracks and stations further away from the actual cities in remote locations.
Regarding the long-distance sleeper trains to Kars, Diyarbakir, Van etc., there is some hope that they might terminate in Haydarpaşa again, as they are also building a turning loop and sidings in the northern part of the area…
Were you able to chooase your seat when making reservation? I see you don't have a good window seat…more wall than window really.
The windows don't look clean.
Am i missing something. How is the Sea of Marmara to your left in the direction of travel from Istanbul? Is the footage rewound?
Great video.
The train at 5:21 is Spanish 😀 build by CAF. (Contructores Auxiliares de Ferrocariles) are in the C/Sepia.
Im verry happy that you enjoyed these trains as there my favorite in Spain :D.
Fun fact in Spain these train nunbured S120.05 (By Renfe) can change gauge (the wheels can adadapt to the width of the track.
¡¡In Motion!!! ).
It was odd in your thumnail was this train but now you show one of the n
ewer german build Velaro train which you did not travel (A bit of cliclbait there).
Well anyways It will be verry fun if you travel on these trains in Spain with its unique tecnologly that It has and to see the diferences.
Just a sugestion (:
I do look foward to your next train adventure 🙂
Two kinds of comments under this post:
1. Turkey isn’t Europe.
2. The photo is Grand Central Station, not Penn Station.
Get a life, people!
That's great development for the country. Izmir is still pretty cut off, but I get why the east is more relevant.
i love the smooth flow trip report like this. Such an ease to view and hear..
I wish this guy was gay 😂 so jealous of his gf
There are 340,000,000 Americans. I'm one of them. You might want to include miles as well because it's very frustrating to stop the video and go google km to miles. I had to do this twice.