Sivas – Samsun railway line

Sivas – Samsun
Route length:	401.7 km
Gauge :	1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend 0 Samsun to Çarşamba 10.1 Demircikoy 18.8 Meşelidüz 34.1 Çukurbük 40.0 Germiyan 47.5 Kavak 64.4 Ladik 73.3 Bekdiğin 86.0 Havza 96.0 Border Samsun - Amasya 100.2 Hacibayram 105.8 Suluova 120.0 Boğazköy 133 Amasya 140.2 Eryatağı 145.8 Kayabaşı 150.0 Ovasaray 153.0 Kızılca 161.0 Amasya – Tokat border 167.2 Kızoğlu 181.2 Samurçay 196.7 Turhal 215.1 Zile 228.7 Yıldıztepe 243.4 Güzelbeyli 250.4 Göçenli 259.7 Ulusulu 266.7 Yenice 276.5 Artova 285.0 Kunduz 293.1 Yeşilyurt 302.1 Tokat – Sivas border 306.4 Topulyurdu 316.1 Çizözü 317.5 Çamlıbel 329.1 Subaşı 332.3 Sandal 348.0 Yıldızeli 364.1 Menteşe 372.0 Kalınköyü Kayseri , Ankara 377.7 Kalın 395.0 Yapı 401.7 Sivas Malatya , Erzurum

The Sivas – Samsun railway has a length of 401.7 kilometers and connects the Turkish Black Sea port of Samsun with the Sivas railway junction in Central Anatolia. Starting from the Black Sea, it first overcomes the Pontic Mountains in a breakthrough valley in a south-westerly direction. The steepest section of the railway line is between Demirciköy and Ladik . After reaching the central Anatolian plateau, it heads south-west until it reaches Sivas at 1275 meters above sea level.

The single-track line was built starting from Samsun in 1926. In 1932 the Kalın separation station was reached and the line opened.

Vehicle use

The opening train on December 28, 1932 was hauled by locomotive 45028 of the TCDD 45 001-062 series. Locomotives of this series remained on the line in front of heavy freight trains and regional trains until the end of the 1980s, after which they were replaced by the diesel locomotives of the TCDD series DE 24000 .

Because the route runs through difficult mountainous terrain, leader locomotives were often used in the steam locomotive era . In the 1970s the locomotives of the series 45 001-062 were mainly used in front of passenger trains, the freight traffic was mainly handled by locomotives of the series TCDD 56 001-166 and the only two standard gauge steam locomotives built in Turkey, the TCDD T56 201-202 . The series TCDD 45 151–170 ( LMS Stanier 8F ), TCDD 33 01–10 and TCDD 35 51–60 took over the shunting service in the station and in the port of Sivas .

Route expansion

Closed since September 29, 2015, the line has been modernized for 276 million euros and electrified with 25 kV alternating current. Freight traffic was resumed on May 4, 2020 after the work was completed. Passenger traffic is only to be resumed after the restrictions caused by Covid-19 have ended.

Remarks

1. ↑ 350 million euros according to: TCDD reopens Sivas - Samsun line after five-year upgrade . In: International Railway Journal of May 12, 2020; accessed on July 9, 2020.

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Philip Ernest Schoenberg: The Evolution of Transport in Turkey (Eastern Thrace and Asia Minor) under Ottoman Rule, 1856-1918 . In: Middle Eastern Studies . tape 13 , no. 3 , 1977, pp. 359–372, here p. 364 , doi : 10.1080 / 00263207708700358 ( PDF ).
2. ↑ Onur Uysal: Steepest gradients of Turkish railways. In: railturkey.org. October 19, 2016, accessed November 3, 2016 . 
3. ↑ Trains of Turkey: 45001 to 45062 , accessed December 26, 2015
4. ^ Benno Bickel, Karl-Wilhelm Koch, Florian Schmidt: Steam under the half moon. The last few years of steam operation in Turkey . Verlag Röhr, Krefeld 1987, ISBN 3-88490-183-4 , p. 90
5. ^ Benno Bickel, Karl-Wilhelm Koch, Florian Schmidt: Steam under the half moon. The last few years of steam operation in Turkey . Verlag Röhr, Krefeld 1987, ISBN 3-88490-183-4 , p. 65
6. ^ Benno Bickel: The Turkish Railways and their steam locomotives . Verlag Röhr, Krefeld 1976, p. 179 & 181 .
7. ↑ Samsun – Sivas reopens after upgrading blockade . In: Railway Gazette International of May 12, 2020; accessed on July 9, 2020.