İZBAN

İZBAN, previously known asEgeray, is acommuter railsystem servingİzmirand itsmetropolitan area. Averaging a daily ridership of 185,000 passengers, it is the busiestcommuter railsystem in Turkey, slightly ahead of theMarmaraycommuter line inIstanbul.İZBAN is aportmanteauof the words "İzmir" and "Banliyö" (suburbinTurkish).
Established in 2007 and began operations in 2010, İZBAN was formed to revive old commuter rail in İzmir. As of 2024, İZBAN operates a 136 km (85 mi) long system, with 41 stations.
İZBAN A.Ş., founded in 2006, operates the railway and is owned 50% by theTurkish State Railwaysand 50% by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. İZBAN is a part of the municipality's transportation master plan.
İZBAN currently has four routes; TheAliağa-Cumaovası, serving the central districts of the city and intoAliağa, TheMenemen-Tepeköy, serving the central districts of the city, ofMenderesand the southern town ofTorbalı. Another line is theTepeköy-Selçukwhich connects the town of Torbalı with the town ofSelçuk. The Çiğli-Halkapınar line only runs during rush hours on weekends in order to reduce pressure on TheAliağa-Cumaovasıand TheMenemen-Tepeköylines.  Apart from TheTepeköy-Selçukline, all lines run through the central districts providing 5-8 trains per hour in the central district.
İZBAN A.Ş.was jointly created on 10 January 2007 by the İzmir Municipality and theTurkish State Railwaysto operate commuter service within the city. Previously commuter service was operated by the State Railways but service wasn't very frequent and trains weren't as efficient. By 2006 commuter ridership within İzmir was at its all time lowest with only 98,000 boardings that year. This followed a steady decrease in ridership since the 1990s.In order to revive commuter service in the city, the State Railways executed a complete overhaul of their two lines within the city. On 23 July 2006 the State Railways temporarily suspended all rail service into İzmir. Regional and intercity trains would terminate atÇiğliin the north andGaziemirin the south.
During this time, the 24 existing commuter stations were rebuilt and 5 new stations were added. New bus transfer terminals were added to integrate commuter service with the citywide bus serviceESHOT. All grade crossings were converted to overpasses or underpasses with the exception of 7 crossings that were operational when service began. Today, only 3 remain and will be removed in the near future. Two railway tunnels were built inKarşıyakaandŞirinyerwith a total of 4 underground stations and the railway's former right of way were converted into parks. Tracks were relaid with cementtiesand signalization was upgraded to a central control station at Alsancak. Turnstiles were added at stations to integrate them with the citywide smartcard, İzmirimKart. A new maintenance facility was opened in Çiğli as well as a small yard was opened in Cumaovası for the trains.
All of the tracks are owned by the Turkish State Railways. There is a transfer from Halkapınar and Hilal stations toM1 Metro Line; from Çiğli, Alaybey, Halkapınar and Alsancak stations toTram İzmir network; from Aliağa, Biçerova, Hatundere, Menemen, Ulukent, Egekent, Çiğli, Mavişehir, Turan, Bayraklı, Salhane, Halkapınar, Alsancak, Kemer, Şirinyer, Koşu, İnkılap, Semt Garajı, Esbaş, Gaziemir, Sarnıç, Adnan Menderes Havalimanı, Cumaovası, Tekeli, Pancar, Kuşçuburun, Torbalı, Tepeköy, Sağlık and Belevi stations toESHOTbuses. It is possible to transfer to mainline trains and regional trains operated byTCDD Taşımacılıkfrom Selçuk, Sağlık, Tepeköy, Torbalı, Pancar, Cumaovası, Adnan Menderes Havalimanı, Gaziemir, Çiğli and Menemen stations.
İZBAN is by far the busiest commuter railroad inTurkey, carrying more passengers than the rest of Turkey's other commuter railroads combined.The average daily ridership is about 100,000. In its first month, İZBAN carried about 2,000 passengers daily, this grew to 40,000 by the end of December and doubled to 80,000 by February. With the opening of the rail-bus transfers on the Northern Line, daily ridership has increased to 100,000. This is expected to rise to 140,000 by April.İZBAN, at 6 months old had carried more than 1.6 million passengers from its opening on August 30, 2010, making it one of the world's fastest growing commuter railroads.Below is a list of the top 10 busiest stations on the system as of September 2011.
In 2022, the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality announced that work on two infill stations would begin in 2023. The stations will be called Gürçeşme, located betweenŞirinyerandKemer, and Katip Çelebi University, located between Egekent andUlukent.
İZBAN plans to extend the line 55 km north from Aliağa toBergama. The goal of this project is to link the ancient cities ofPergamonandEphesuswith İzmir by rail.
An extension to Manisa was planned and construction was expected to begin towards the end of 2011. This would mean the upgrading of several stations (Emiralem, Ayvacık, Muradiye, Horozköy) and a major upgrade of theManisaRailway Station, as well as adding a few new stations to serve all villages near the line (Yahşelli, Göktepe). Together with this, the existing single track line, would be made double track and electrified with25 kV ACoverhead wire.
Media related toİZBANat Wikimedia Commons