9th of September Express

9th of September Express
The westbound train waiting to depart Ankara.
Overview
Service typeIntercity rail
StatusDiscontinued
LocaleWestern Turkey
First service9 September 2003 (2003-09-09)
Last service16 January 2010 (2010-01-16)
Former operatorTurkish State Railways
Ridership221,098 (2008)
Route
TerminiBasmane station, İzmir
Ankara station, Ankara
Stops31
Distance travelled824 km (512 mi)
Average journey time13 hours, 25 minutes (Eastbound)
13 hours, 6 minutes (Westbound)
Service frequencyDaily each way
Train number21035, 31035
On-board services
ClassCoach class/first class sleeper service
Seating arrangements2+1 open seating
Sleeping arrangementsPrivate rooms (2 beds)
Catering facilitiesDining Car
Technical
Rolling stockTVS2000
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Operating speed120 km/h (75 mph) (Max.)
Track ownerTCDD

The 9th of September Express (Turkish: 9 Eylül Ekspresi) was an overnight passenger train operated by the Turkish State Railways, running daily between Ankara and İzmir. The train was inaugurated on 9 September 2003 and ran until 20 January 2010, when it was subsequently discontinued. The train is named after 9 September 1922, the date of the liberation of İzmir during the Turkish War of Independence.

History

The 9th of September Express entered service on 9 September 2003 as the third daily train running between Ankara and İzmir. Running alongside the limited-stop İzmir Blue Train and the slower Karesi Express the 9th of September Express departed in the late evening, after the departures of the other two trains, and was the fastest of all three, making the journey in roughly 13 hours and 6/25 minutes. The shorter Aegean Express also ran on the same route from İzmir to Eskişehir. Originally categorized as a "Super Express", a faster trains service above the standard "Express", the 9th of September Express ran between Ankara station in Ankara and Basmane station in İzmir, with the starting price of a coach ticket being TL20 million ($14.45). During its first months of service, the 9th of September Express consisted of two open coach cars, a compartment coach car, a couchette car, a sleeping car, and a dining car. This offered a mix of service compared to the İzmir Blue Train which offered only coach and sleeper berths, while the Karesi Express offered only coach and couchette berths. However, this later changed soon after as the 9th of September Express dropped its couchette and compartment coach berths, instead running with only coach and sleeper berths.

Due to modernization and expansion projects on the railways, the 9th of September Express was prone to several route cuts over its lifetime. The first route cut happened on 25 February 2006, when the western end of the route was truncated by 17 km (11 mi), from Basmane station to Çiğli, due to the construction of the Karşıyaka rail tunnel and wider İZBAN commuter rail project. Direct express bus service was offered between Basmane and Çiğli with a stop at Karşıyaka, using city buses belonging to ESHOT. The eastern portion of the route, between Ankara and Eskişehir, was also cut for a few days between 13-17 February and again between 5-10 March 2007. This was done due to the construction of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway. In October 2007, the route was truncated by a further 7 km (4.3 mi) from Çiğli to Ulukent. This was done due to the closure of the siding tracks at Çiğli station, to allow for the expansion of its platforms. Following this closure, trains were stored on the sidings at Menemen, 7 km (4.3 mi) north of Ulukent.

Starting in June 2008, the Turkish State Railways began offering combined train/bus service from Ankara to Ayvalık and Akçay on the Aegean Sea for the summer season. Passengers would transfer to bus service at Balıkesir and continue west in the morning, with the return bus departing Ayvalık at 21:00 in the evening, arriving in Balıkesir in time to connect to the eastbound train back to Ankara.

On 28 December 2009, the State Railways announced that the 9th of September Express would be temporarily suspended on 16 January 2010 to allow for renovation works on the Kütahya-Balıkesir railway. However, the İzmir Blue Train and Karesi Express would not be affected and would continue to run normally. The 9th of September Express made its final journey on 16 January, arriving at its destination on 17 January. On 8 June 2010, Minister of Transport Binali Yıldırım stated that the train was suspended due to operating costs, in response to a question regarding the trains cancellation. He cited a 2009 report by TCDD which listed the 9th of September Express as among the fiscally worst performing intercity trains, along with the Erzurum Express, Karaelmas Express, and the 4th of September Blue Train. While this did not mean that the train ran empty, it meant that the train was performing poorly compared to alternative modes of transport between the two cities, such as automobile, bus, and airplane traffic. In response to criticism from the Union of Transportation Workers (Birleşik Taşımacılık Çalışanları Sendikası or BTS) towards TCDD's commercial viability focus of trains, he defended the decision claiming that the suspension was necessary to allow for construction works to progress and that alternative train connections were still operating on the same route. Yıldırım also promised that the train would be reinstated once renewal works were completed, which eventually never came to be. Thus the 9th of September Express was effectively discontinued.

Equipment

Like the other trains in Turkey classified as "Super Expresses", the 9th of September Express consisted almost exclusively of TVS2000 passenger cars. These included second-class coach cars with 2+1 seating, a first-class sleeping car with private 2-bed berths, and a dining car. For head-end power a generator car was also hooked up between the locomotive and the rest of the train. The dining car would separate the coach section from the sleeping car section, while the sleeping car would be attached at the very back of the train. As for motive power, the 9th of September Express would usually have a DE22000 diesel-electric locomotive pulling it for the entire trip, while occasionally swapping motive power with a DE33000 diesel-electric locomotive. Despite the easternmost 363 km (226 mi) section of its route being electrified between Ankara and Eskişehir, the train would always make its entire journey with a diesel locomotive. While a standard consist would include a generator car, 4-5 coach cars, a dining car, and a sleeping car, extra coach cars and even extra sleeping car would be added, to accommodate extra demand.

Schedule

Before the closure of the Basmane-Ulukent section of the route, the 9th of September Express would depart both Ankara and İzmir at 20:00, arriving shortly after 09:00 to their respective destinations. However, the train was prone to many delays due to the mostly single-track route as the train would regularly wait at stations for trains to pass in the opposite direction. This would cause delays, occasionally up to a few hours. Below is the timetable of the train from 2004.

9th of September Express, 2004 schedule
21035
(Ankara-İzmir)		9 Eylül Ekspresi31035
(İzmir-Ankara)
ArrDepStationsArrDep
20:00Ankara09:25
20:1920:20Sincan09:0709:08
20:4120:43Temelli--
21:0021:01Polatlı08:2708:28
22:3422:44Eskişehir06:4006:50
--Sabuncupınar05:5405:56
--Uluköy05:4405:45
23:4723:49Alayunt05:3105:32
00:0000:03Kütahya05:1705:20
00:3500:36Güzelyurt--
00:5200:54Tavşanlı04:2704:28
01:2201:23Demirli--
--Değirmisaz03:3903:40
01:5001:52Balıköy--
--Gökçedağ03:0703:08
02:2902:45Piribeyler02:4402:46
03:1703:18Dursunbey02:0902:10
--Selimağa01:5401:56
--Gazellidere01:4001:41
--Nusrat00:4900:50
04:5105:01Balıkesir00:1400:24
--Çukurhüseyin23:5623:57
05:3905:40Soğucak--
06:0206:03Savaştepe23:0923:10
06:2806:30Soma22:3922:41
07:0507:07Akhisar22:0122:03
07:4907:51Manisa21:1521:17
08:0208:04Muradiye21:0221:04
08:2108:03Emiralem--
08:2908:30Menemen20:3820:39
08:4808:50Karşıyaka20:1620:18
09:06Basmane20:00

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Ankara-İzmir arasına yeni tren". İnternet Haber (in Turkish). 8 September 2003. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  2. ↑ Turkish State Railways (2008). 2008 Faaliyet Raporu (PDF) (Report) (in Turkish). Turkish State Railways. p. 67. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  3. 1 2 "TCDD de Sordu; Demiryolu Ne Zaman Kapatılacak?-II". Kent ve Demiryolu (in Turkish). 12 January 2010. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  4. ↑ "TBMM Tutanak Dergisi, 33. Birleşim" (PDF) (in Turkish). Grand National Assembly of Turkey. 21 December 2003. p. 421. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  5. ↑ "İzmir tarihinin en önemli projesinde çalışmalar hızla sürüyor" (in Turkish). İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. 27 February 2006. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  6. ↑ "Kocaoğlu: Tünelin ucundaki ışık göründü" (in Turkish). İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  7. ↑ 9th of September Express schedule, 2007
  8. ↑ "Ankara-Eskişehir tren seferlerine ara". Memurlar.net (in Turkish). Anadolu Agency. 8 February 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  9. ↑ "25 Kasım: Hayat duruyor!". Ege'de Son Söz (in Turkish). 23 November 2009. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  10. ↑ Turkish State Railways (2008). Demiryolu Sektör Raporu 2008 (PDF) (Report) (in Turkish). Turkish State Railways. Kombine Yolcu Taşımacılığı. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  11. ↑ Turkish State Railways (2009). Demiryolu Sektör Raporu 2009 (PDF) (Report) (in Turkish). Turkish State Railways. p. 16. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  12. ↑ "TCDD'de Yolcu Taşıması Nereye Gidiyor?". Kent ve Demiryolu (in Turkish). 9 August 2008. Retrieved 3 November 2026.
  13. ↑ "9 Eylül Ekspresi" (in Turkish). Türkiye Cumhuriyeti Devlet Demiryolları. Archived from the original on 8 July 2004. Retrieved 6 November 2026.