The Touristic Eastern Express will embark on its journeys on December 11, according to a statement from the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure.
The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure announced in a written statement that ticket sales for the Touristic Eastern Express expeditions were still ongoing and that the inaugural journey of the train would take place on December 11.
On December 11, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu, the Minister of Transport and Infrastructure, will launch the train from Ankara to Kars.
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It was also noted in the statement that certain travel agencies are attempting to sell tickets for the “Eastern Express” as the “Touristic Eastern Express,” despite not having the legal right to do so.
“When making travel plans on the Ankara and Kars line, citizens should be aware of the distinctions between the Eastern Express and the Touristic Eastern Express trains. The 53-kilometer Ankara and Kars route is home to the Eastern Express, a line of pullman and couchette wagons that does daily reciprocal trips and stops at 1300 stations. One month in advance, each ticket for this train is available for individual purchase.
No travel agency is permitted to offer tourist rail tours for this train. The Touristic Eastern Express is a specially designed train for tourism that departs from Ankara on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and arrives in Kars on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. It stops for about three hours in Erzincan and Erzurum on the way to Ankara and Kars, and in İliç, Divriği, and Sivas on the way to Kars and Ankara.
A month in advance, TCDD Taşımacılık A\ offered to sell tickets for about 35% of the touristy Eastern Express train, while travel companies approved by the Association of Turkish Travel companies (TÜRSAB) were granted lot rights for the remaining wagons.”
It was announced that tickets bought through individual sales channels of the organizations who act to mislead the public will be annulled, and TÜRSAB will be notified of these organizations.