page_title: Turkish State Railways
section_title: Ferries
hierarchical_section_title: Turkish State Railways / Network / Ferries
caption_attribution_description: English: Train ferry Van
context_page_description: The State Railways of the Republic of Turkey, abbreviated as TCDD, is a government-owned national railway company responsible with the ownership and maintenance of railway infrastructure in Turkey, as well as the planning and construction of new lines. TCDD was formed on 4 June 1929 as part of the nationalisation of railways in Turkey.
  The Turkish State Railways own and maintain all public railways in Turkey. This includes railway stations, ports, bridges and tunnels, yards and maintenance facilities. In 2016, TCDD controlled an active network of 12,532 km of railways, making it the 22nd-largest railway system in the world. Apart from railway infrastructure, TCDD also owns several rail transport companies within Turkey as well as a 50% share of the İzmir-area commuter rail system, İZBAN.
  Prior to 2017, TCDD also operated all railways in Turkey. However, with the government taking steps to privatise some of the Turkish railway network, TCDD Taşımacılık was formed on 14 June 2016 to take over all railway operations. Handover of rolling stock was signed on 28 December of the same year and TCDD formally ceased all railway operations on 31 December 2016.
context_section_description: The Turkish State Railways own and operate two rail train ferries and connects to three others.
  The most famous of these would be the Bosphorus train ferry in İstanbul. This ferry connects Haydarpaşa, on the Asian side, with Sirkeci, on the European side. Demiryolu and Demiryolu II are the two ferries that operate on the route and are owned by TCDD.
  By starting the project of Marmaray, TCDD ended the Bosphorus train ferry and announced an alternative ferry for the freight trains passing from Europe to Asia or vice versa: Tekirdağ-Derince Ferry. It's a private ferry named Erdemir working as a subcontractor of TCDD. Ferry did trials in 2012, and had started regular transportation at the end of 2013. Ferry has 5 lines with 800-meter total length.
  The other train ferry owned by TCDD would be the Lake Van ferry, connecting Tatvan and Van via Lake Van, Turkey's largest lake. This ferry is a part of the only railway connection between Turkey and Iran, and thereby between Europe and India. Van is the name of the ferry that operates on the route and is also fully owned by TCDD.
  Other train ferries:
  Derince, Turkey to Chornomorsk, Ukraine – TCDD owns and operates the Port of Derince.
  Zonguldak to Ereğli – Operated by Alyans Tempo Group.
  Samsun to Kavkaz – Operated by UPM.
caption: Van Lake Train Ferry and Van terminal
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