Halkalı railway station

HALKALI
TCDD Taşımacılık intercity rail station
The joint Istanbul-Sofia/Bosphorus Express waiting to depart the station.
Location	İstasyon Cd., İstasyon Mah., 34303 Küçükçekmece/Istanbul Turkey
Coordinates	41°01′08″N 28°46′00″E / 41.01889°N 28.76667°E / 41.01889; 28.76667Coordinates: 41°01′08″N 28°46′00″E / 41.01889°N 28.76667°E / 41.01889; 28.76667
Owned by	Turkish State Railways
Operated by	TCDD Taşımacılık
Line(s)	Istanbul-Sofia Express   Bosphorus Express   Istanbul-Kapıkule   Istanbul-Çerkezköy
Platforms	2 island platforms
Tracks	4
Construction
Structure type	At-Grade
Parking	Yes
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	22 July 1872
Closed	2013-16
Rebuilt	1955, 2013-16
Electrified	1955 25 kV AC, 50 Hz OHLE
Services
Preceding station   TCDD Taşımacılık   Following station Çerkezköy toward Sofia Istanbul-Sofia Express Terminus Çerkezköy toward Bucharest Bosphorus Express Ispartakule toward Kapıkule Istanbul-Kapıkule Ispartakule toward [[Template:S-line/TCDD left/Uzunköprü-Halkalı Regional railway station|Template:S-line/TCDD left/Uzunköprü-Halkalı Regional]] Uzunköprü-Halkalı Regional Line   Future service   Terminus Marmaray (2018) Mustafa Kemal toward Gebze   Former service   Terminus Istanbul suburban Kanarya toward Sirkeci

Halkalı station (Turkish: Halkalı garı) is the westernmost station on the İstanbul-Halkalı Line as well as in İstanbul. The station also services regional trains to Edirne, Uzunköprü, Çerkezköy and international trains to Bucharest, Belgrade and Sofia. The distance of the Halkalı station to the Istanbul Sirkeci Terminal is 27.63 km (17.17 mi).

Overview

The Halkalı logistics center and the historic Halkalı electric train maintenance depot is located near the station. The station is located next to Lake Küçükçekmece and services the population in north-central Küçükçekmece. Just a little north of the station will be a depot for commuter trains once the Marmaray project is complete.

The terminal has been the departure terminal for all freight trains to Europe and became a very important container terminal. It has been used by rail container lines IFB, Express Interfracht, Europe Intermodal and Metrans. It was closed to railway traffic in June 2013 due to construction works between Çerkezköy and Halkalı.^[1] Construction work officially began in March 2014 and was said to last for 75 days.^[2] However, construction works extended which already postponed opening to 2015. There's also a project under discussion to extend Marmaray to Ispartakule, which may cause further construction works and closures in the future.^[3][4]

As Halkalı is now surrounded by residential areas due to the growth of the city, the role of being the main export customs for trucks to Europe is about to end. Trucks will use the new customs office in Catalca soon. Thus, Halkalı will have a large space for further projects. Halkalı is expected to be the main high speed train station on the European side of Istanbul after the railway connection via the new Bosphorus bridge is completed.

In June 2013, DB Schenker Rail announced a new freight route, with three trains per week between Germany and the Halkalı logistics center.^[5] However, since Halkali had not opened as planned, trials had been done using Çerkezköy Terminal, and did not continue.^[6]

References