Can anyone tell me please...

I've heard about a train that you can put your bike on that goes from Istanbul to Lake Van (on onwards to Tehran if you want to go that far...) We are contemplating crossing turkey in the summer but with not a lot of time this sounds like a good way to cut out the middle and get over to see the east where we really want to go...

Does anyone know anything about it?
The Cost?
The schedule?
Pick-up/Drop-off Points?
Documents required?
Reliability?
Ability to travel as foot passenger on same train?

etc...

Many thanks, Tony.

__________________
Tony Robson
I'll try anything once, twice if it didn't kill me!

Check thıs out...
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...yone-any-30559

Hi Tony,

I took all the info here from the official site of Turkish State Railways( TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI ).
I tried to find and translate as much as info as I could. Although there is an option to view the site in English, in reality there is only 1 page there and no info. But if you choose Turkish you got all info you need.. I suppose you don't speak Turkish.. So here we go :

First of all, before costs and schedules there are some laws that you need to know about railway transportation. I will only translate the ones with spesific importance.
**National Railways Transportation Rule 2.3 - Transportation of vehicles ( TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI: )
- At the transportation process of any kind of vehicle with wheels the payment is in advance. (and probably they will ask for New Turkish Lira=YTL)
- The security of the vehicle, the goods or any kind of extra equipment in or on the vehicle is at the owners' responsibility.
- All vehicles must have an empty fuel tank while transported.
**National Railways Transportation Rule 1.10 - Goods that are NOT permitted for transportation ( TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI: )
- Because of size, wieght, shape or any other reason; anything that is found not transportable is denied (this you got to know.. because it simply is a rule saying we can turn you down at the door because we decided not to carry your stuff)
**National Railway Transportation Rule 1.14 - Calculation of costs for transportation ( TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI: )
- The cost depends on;
1) Type and class of the good
2) Weight of the good
3) Distance between the stations of departure and arrival

Now other than this, I spent around 2 hours reading through all regulations and stuff and understood:
* You CAN travel with your bike (if permitted by officials)
* You CAN travel as foot passenger (have to pay extra for ticket)
* They will probably be able to take you and your bike from Istanbul to Van.
* You cant rely on security of your vehicle or any of your stuff if you will be travelling as a foot passenger and leaving them at the cargo compartment.
* I think you'll be allowed to stay with your bike(and wont pay extra in that case as a passenger - National Railways Transportation Rule 1.7.1). But if you stay with your bike you must NOT expect to be comfy..
* I checked the types of the compartments and tried to find out which kind of compartment they would put your bike in. At the page where compartments info was given, there was no mentioning of bikes. But the type of compartment that they are carrying autos is types K and R which are platform compartments. Now if they say they are going to put your bike in one these types and stabilize it with ropes and so on and that this is the only way than there is no possibility for you to stay with your bike because they are open platform compartments. Check out the picture of compartment type K and R TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI
But if they say they will put your bike in a type G compartment which is declared that it is normally used to transport home goods, food, clothing, cement, fertilizer and live animal; than thats good. Check out picture of compartment type G TCDD-TÜRKÝYE CUMHURÝYETÝ DEVLET DEMÝRYOLLARI
Maybe even if they say they cant carry it other than on a K or R type than you can offer to rent one of these paying extra.. just you and your bike..

Cost :
Up to 1000 kg (approx. 2,204 pounds)
From Istanbul - Haydarpasa to Van (Distance : 1896 km.)
77,17 YTL + 16 YTL (Van Lake Ferry Price)
Total = 93,17 YTL ( approx. 54 Euros )

There could be some extras. (Which I'm pretty sure there WILL BE)

The schedule :

*VAN LAKE EXPRESS 11532
Departure : Haydarpasa at 17:50 every Monday and Saturday
Arrival : Tatvan (around 12:00 the day after)

*SOUTHERN EXPRESS 11542
Departure : Haydarpasa at 17:50 every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday
Arrival : Kurtalan (around 08:00 the day after)

Neither Tatvan nor Kurtalan is Van's city center. Tatvan is closer to Van. Kurtalan is actually closer to Siirt. I can't say unfortunately if both these expresses is either able or not to carry your bike..

About the paperwork you need I have absolutely no idea. But I dont think there will be smth extra than the normal paperwork you already have.. (Bike's paper, passport etc.)

Hope these help in someway.. If you have any questions pls feel free to contact..

Safe Roads,

Ozgun

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RIDE THE WORLD

Hi Tony,

Ozgun issued all nacessary info which is more than sufficient.

I am not sure if this train (I guess the name is Kurtalan Express) reaches to Tatvan within 24 hours from Haydarpasa/Istanbul.

It is not expensive, but takes very long time...

Sami

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"where the traveller goes, nobody knows ! "

Thank you for all the information - it is really useful... I think that we are pretty certain now that we will be riding from the UK-France-Belguim-Germany-Poland-Slovakia-Hungary-Romania-Bulgaria-Turkey-Iran-{Ferry}-UAE-Oman

the info provided is great as we have to do this in 6 weeks so getting across from Istanbul to Lake Van in a day will make all the difference - we want to spend some time exploring Galipoli and eastern Turkey as we have seen Ankara and Capadoccia before....so cutting the middle out on a train will make a real difference...

Many thanks again, I will digest it all and then make sure I save it all in my laptop for re-reading on the road... Thanks again,

Tony.

__________________
Tony Robson
I'll try anything once, twice if it didn't kill me!

Hello Tony,

You can find info about trains in the Turkish State Railways website TCDD - TURKISH STATE RAILWAYS.
I talked with people from railways a few days ago and they said "You should load and unload your bike." They dont accept any responsibility for loading or unloading your bike though they help a lot. Normally there is 1-1,5m height difference between the train and platform. So, you need some kind of ramp to load and unload. As far as I know, there is one in Istanbul but availability of a ramp for unloading depends on where you unload. At Lake Van, They transfer passenger and freight car by ferry to the other side. On the other side of the lake, they connect the freight car to Iranian Railways' Train and passengers continue with Iranian Railways also.

Paul Read will take the Istanbul-Tahran train this week so I can give you more detailed info about it in a few days.

Ozgur.

What facilities are there in Tatvan/van and Tehran for unloading/loading a bike?

Today I went with Ozgur to investigate the station in Ankara there is a big difference between the platform and carriage height there is a short ramp but my bike has only a 14cm ground clearance so we are thinking of using two luggage trollies putting the bike on the trollies first and then up the ramp into the carriage

There is a forklift truck in Ankara but the operator does not start work until much later than the train leaves!!

and check this out!

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...in+turkey+iran

Hi all,
I came from Tehran to Istanbul.
Tehran = The baggage carrage door is at platform height so no problem there. They do have a problem getting the bike to the platform. They had to life the bikes onto the baggage caracel. The gap through was just big enough to get a Trans-Alp with sideboxes through.
Iran boarder crossing= They forced us off the train here for they either did not know what to do with the carnet or they did not want to take the responsibility with it and sent up north to the road crossing. They do not have the facility to take off the bikes professionally.We used a makeshift 30cm wide ramp with 6 men to take the bikes down. It's possibel but care is needed to micro-manage them.
As for Van. The luggage carriage goes directly on the ferry. I don't know how you would take a bike off there for I never made it that far.
hope that helps
Craig

Today Paul and I went to the train station in Ankara again and asked the cost of 200-250 kgs. from Ankara to Tehran. The Offical's estimate was around 200 Euros for the bike plus 35 euros for the ticket. Also, You should give 5-10 Euros in total to the guys helping you for loading. Grand total is around 250 euros.

Ozgur

as Ozgur says ýt was really gettýng expensýve plus a lot of hassle over building a new longer ramp for my low VFR750 plus a big unknown over the border procedures so now Ý am riding to the border instead and it is sunny :-)))

paul

Well it flipping snowed in Tebriz so I ended up jumping on the train from Tebriz to Tehran - it is the same slow train. 12 hrs. So a quick summary:

The bike was man-handled onto the luggage wagon in the morning before the train arrived in the afternoon with me supervising/shouting. there were no tie down points so it was put on its centre stand and I locked the front brake on. Then various boxes and bags were packed around the bike. Papa and his 3 sons run the baggage handling place in Tebriz I don't think they will forgot me...

After a sleepless night convienced it would have tipped over as the ride was pretty horrendous I managed to hassle the guys in Tehran to let me into the carriage to unload it myself within about 50mins of arriving. Easy to unload as the siding is at the same height as the carriage. With that done it was just a case of easying it around and down a tight ramp to the road - no big issue.

Some pictures:

My Images - /20071204 - ISAAC 3




The best bit was meeting a pretty Muslim girl on the train and talking to her most of the evening :-)