"The Iron Way" --- Trains in Turkey

Many people in Turkey still scorn train travel. The government-owned TCDD (Turkish State Railways) is seen as dirty, slow and inefficient, dangerous, and, worst of all, lower class. Out of all transportation in Turkey, the rail system currently makes up about 4%, down from the 37% it was responsible for in 1950. (read the World Bank report if you're interested...)

Economics aside for the moment, the persisting social stigmas are perhaps just as important. Three weeks earlier when buying tickets from Ankara to Istanbul, a friend and I were planning to take the cheapest ride available. A neighbor was fiercely against this, insisting: "Never go on Güney (South) Ekspres, it's only for winos, drunks, and drug dealers... And you know the weapon-smugglers from Iraq into Turkey? I'm sure that they travel by train."***

After another friend added a rumour about flaking lead paint on old trains, we were persuaded to take the 20 lira Fatih (Conqueror)--ultimately riding in a brightly lit, air conditioned car through the night. When I needed to return to Ankara, still very much on a budget, I decided for an adventure in choosing the cheapest train (9.50 lira): the infamous Güney Ekspres.

And here I found a train culture folks on the outside don't quite understand. Passengers travel in compartments of six official seats. I noticed some families had three or four children registered as one ticket, and they spilled out into the narrow corridor passing by. Other compartments were taken by groups of men who could possibly be smugglers, but I have no way of knowing. Individuals or passengers in pairs are stuck in wherever there are extra seats.

In Istanbul, the ticket agent was very reluctant to even sell me a ticket, asking, "Are you alone? You're travelling alone? You want the other train; Güney is only if you have friends..."
"I'm cheap," I replied. "I carry a knife and I'll be fine..."

(To Be Continued...)

~~~alice

***This was a reference to the recent headline news: Turkish police found American-produced guns in the hands of PKK fighters in southern Turkey. The guns somehow made their way from Iraqi police forces--were they were distributed during training by US troops--to the Kurdish separatist group PKK which was likely planning to use them against the Turkish military (or Turkish citizens). That PKK uses trains for smuggling inside Turkey is a fairly serious claim, one which may or may not have any grounding. Read it in the New York Times, the Turkish Daily News, or listen on NPR.