The railway policy, which aims to weave the country with iron nets, has been one of the important pillars of the national market creation process. The efforts, which started with the repair of the lines destroyed during the war and the operation of the railways, albeit at low capacity, continued with determination in order to establish a network connecting the important settlement, production and consumption centers of the country.
Which is Turkey's First Railway Line?
Nearly 4000 kilometers of the railways built and operated by various foreign companies during the Ottoman Empire remain within the national borders drawn with the proclamation of the Republic. The first railway built within the borders of Turkey is the 23-kilometer İzmir – Aydın line, which was completed in 1856 with the concession given to a British company on September 1866, 130.
The sovereign economic and political understanding in the early years of the Republic manifests itself with the efforts initiated to ensure national integrity and expand the transport network. In this context, railway policy is especially prominent. It is thought that the connection of the country's main settlements and production-consumption centers will lead to a revival in the domestic market, which will have positive effects on the national economy.
The prominent feature of this period is 1932, which was prepared in the years 1936 and 1. and 2. Five-year Industrialization Plans give priority to basic industries such as iron-steel, coal and machinery. This economic orientation brings with it the goal of transporting the burden necessary for the industry by cheap means, and thus, railway investments are emphasized. The goal of spreading industrial investments throughout the country is effective in the selection of transportation network.
With a law published in 1923, the lines are decided to be built and operated by the state. The first tender is held at 1927 and the second tender is held at 1933. In the first tender, the producer is foreign and the subcontractor is Turkish. In the second tender, a Turkish company undertakes production for the first time.
Thus, the construction and operation of the railways is transferred to the General Directorate of State Railways and Ports Administration and the period of State Railways is started.
In spite of all the impossibilities, the construction of the railway continued at a high speed until the Second World War, and the work slowed down after 1940 due to the war. The 1923 kilometer of the 1950 kilometer railway between 3.578-3.208 is completed until 1940. In this period, the railway lines held by foreign companies are purchased and nationalized. Since most of the existing railway lines are concentrated in the Western part of the country, it is aimed to connect the Central and Eastern regions with the center and the coast and to ensure a healthy structure by main lines.
The main lines constructed during this period are as follows: Ankara-Kayseri-Sivas, Sivas-Erzurum, Samsun-Kalın (Sivas), Irmak-Filyos (Zonguldak coal line), Adana-Fevzipaşa- Diyarbakir (Copper line), Sivas-Cetinkaya (Iron line) .
While the 70 percent of the railways remained west of the Ankara-Konya direction before the Republic, the 78,6 percent of the roads were shifted to the east during the Republican period and the current distribution between west and east (46 percent west, 54 percent east) is obtained. The emphasis is on the construction of lines that connect the main lines to each other and allow the railroad to spread to the country level.
Network type railways at the beginning of the Republic were made into two loops in 1935, namely Manisa - Balıkesir - Kütahya - Afyon and Eskişehir - Ankara - Kayseri - Kardesgedik - Afyon. In addition, İzmir - Denizli - Karakuyu - Afyon - Manisa and Kayseri - Kardeşgedigi- Adana-Narlı-Malatya-Çetinkaya cycles are obtained. It is aimed to reduce the distances with the loops performed with the combined lines.
Even during planned development periods after 1960, the targets for railways can never be achieved. Between 1950-1980, only the average 30 mileage per year can be built.
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