The 153-kilometre Çerkezköy–Kapıkule section of the Halkalı–Kapıkule high-speed railway will enter service on October 9, 2026. Transport and Infrastructure Minister Abdulkadir Uraloğlu announced the date on October 4 and said the opening would take place with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attending. The completed section is designed to carry both passenger and freight trains and forms a major part of Türkiye’s rail connection toward the European border.
Built for operations at up to 200 kilometres per hour
According to Uraloğlu, the Çerkezköy–Kapıkule section was constructed as an electrified double-track railway with Level 1 signalling and is suitable for operating speeds of 200 kilometres per hour. The works included 31 bridges, eight cut-and-cover tunnels, two viaducts, 114 underpasses and overpasses, and 175 culverts. A total of 353 kilometres of rail was laid.
The opening will connect Tekirdağ, Kırklareli and Edirne to Türkiye’s high-speed rail network. New station buildings were constructed in Babaeski, Lüleburgaz and Büyükkarıştıran, while the station buildings at Kapıkule and Edirne were rebuilt. A staff building for the Çerkezköy freight station and a locomotive maintenance workshop are also among the facilities included in the project.
Passenger and freight services planned together
When every stage of the wider Halkalı–Kapıkule project is completed, passenger travel time on the route is expected to fall from four hours to about one and a half hours. Freight travel time is targeted to decline from eight and a half hours to three and a half hours. The government’s project targets also call for line capacity to increase fourfold, annual passenger capacity to rise from 600,000 to roughly three million, and annual freight capacity to expand from 1.5 million tonnes to 9.5 million tonnes.
Those capacity and journey-time figures describe the expected result after completion of the whole Halkalı–Kapıkule programme, not only the section opening on October 9. Construction continues on the Ispartakule–Çerkezköy stage and on the link between Ispartakule and Halkalı. The October opening therefore marks the commissioning of the longest section rather than completion of the entire route.
Border capacity is being expanded at Kapıkule
The number of tracks in the Kapıkule station area is planned to increase from 23 to 42, while their combined length is set to rise from 14,840 metres to 29,680 metres. The roughly 2.4-kilometre section between Kapıkule and the Bulgarian border is also being converted to double track. Authorities expect the additional capacity to improve train reception and manoeuvring and to reduce delays linked to customs and inspection procedures.
The line is intended to strengthen rail access to European markets for industrial zones and ports in Istanbul, Kocaeli, Tekirdağ and the wider Thrace region. Uraloğlu said 86 percent of Türkiye’s rail-borne export shipments in 2024 moved through this corridor.
A new stage in Türkiye’s European rail connection
The Halkalı–Kapıkule route is one of the western links in the rail chain connecting Asia and Europe through the Baku–Tbilisi–Kars railway and Marmaray. Officials also position the corridor at the western end of the planned Development Road, which would extend from Iraq’s Al-Faw port through Türkiye toward Europe.
The verified announcement concerns the October 9 opening of the 153-kilometre Çerkezköy–Kapıkule section. Ticket prices, the detailed timetable and the date on which regular passenger services will begin have not yet been announced, so this report does not present them as settled facts. Passengers should follow notices from TCDD Taşımacılık and the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure for operational details.
