he Toprakkale–Iskenderun railway () is a long electrified railway in southern Turkey. The railway branches off the Adana–Aleppo railway at Toprakkale and heads south along the northeastern coast of the Mediterranean in the province Hatay and terminates at Iskenderun, a port city on the Mediterranean.

Infrastructure and Route The line departs from Toprakkale railway station and immediately turns south. It passes at the foot of the fortress of the same name and then continues south, through the coastal plain to Dörtyol and then Payas. After Payas, the coastal plain becomes very narrow and line had to be built on the seashore. The railway halt of Denizciler is roughly 30m away from the beach. The railway enters Iskenderun city from the north and the station was established near the historical port. The line is mostly flat and straight, except for the section that was built on the seashore. It did not present any engineering difficulties. There are no notable tunnels nor bridges .

The line is single track, standard gauge, with passing sidings which are on roughly 8km apart on average. Most of the sidings allow for 600m long train. The sidings are in the following stations:

+ Stations and sidings Station Kilometer point Altitude (m) number of sidings Siding length (m)Erzin11,3522780Karabasamak22,281800Dörtyol30,2233750Payas36,71171400Isdemir41,9303850Sarıseki48,732550

The line was equipped with TCDD Centralized traffic control signaling and TSI signals . The CTC center is in Malatya. The line was electrified in 25 kV 50 Hz with overhead catenary in 1994. There is an electrical substation converting the 154 kV from the main grid to 25 kV. It is located near Payas station.

Junctions When exiting Toprakkale train station, there is a triangle junction allowing trains coming either from Osmaniye, in the North to continue towards Iskenderun without reversing in Toprakkale.

Traffic The line serve a densely populated area which is also very industrialized. The industries are clustered around the İsdemir steel works. This factory is one of the biggest of its kind in Turkey. It is served by a large internal industrial railway, connected to TCDD at Payas station. This factory receives iron ore mostly by trains. Coal for this factory is usually coming by boat.

There is also a spur to serve a petroleum terminal in Dörtyol, several spurs to steel and other heavy material factories in Sarıseki. And finally, there is a spur to Iskenderun port which is a large container terminal .

There are no long distance passenger trains on this line. It served by a regional train going from Adana to Iskenderun.

History The line was built by the Chemin de Fer Impérial Ottoman de Baghdad (CIOB) as a part of their concession to built a railway from Konya to Baghdad. The line opened on 1 November 1912. It connected to the the railway from Adana to Toprakkale and Mamure which opened earlier in 1912. These two lines along with the Adana Mersin line formed an insulated network until it could be connected in 1918 to the rest of the CIOB network .

After the end of World War 1 and the Treaty of Versailles, the line was transferred to the Chemins de fer de Cilicie Nord-Syrie (CNS), a railway companies that was set-up to take over the CIOB lines in French controlled territories: Cilicia and Syria.

Following the Treaty of Ankara (1921), Cilicia was returned to Turkey, except for the Sanjak of Alexandretta which remained under French mandate. At this point, the line became international, crossing the border near Payas.

On 27 October 1932, following the purchase of the Adana Fevzipasa railway by the Turkish State Railways, the Toprakkale-İskenderun railway is transferred to two new companies: Toprakkale-Payas, in Turkish territory is transferred to Société Turque d'exploitation des Chemins de fer du Sud de la Turquie, or commonly known as Cenup Demiryolları. Payas-Iskenderun is transferred to Lignes Syriennes du Chemins de Baghdad (LSB), itself a subsidiary company of the Damas, Hamah et Prolongements (DHP). The Cenup Demiryolları control of it's section of the line was effective 30 June 1937 .

The Sanjak of Alexandretta became part of Turkey along with the Hatay Province on 7 July 1939. The Payas-Iskenderun railway was taken over on 12 August 1939 by the Turkish State Railways. At this point, the two halves of the Toprakkale-İskenderun railway were reunited again under a single ownership.

See Also Adana–Aleppo railway Berlin–Baghdad railway

References