Istanbul–Ankara railway Istanbul–Ankara railway The Istanbul–Ankara railway () is a long electrified railway in Turkey. The line connects Turkey's largest city, Istanbul, to the capital and second largest city, Ankara; making it one the busiest railways in the country in terms of passenger and freight rail traffic. The railway runs parallel to the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway and in several sections, the railway hosts YHT high-speed trains. The line begins at Haydarpaşa Terminal in Istanbul and ends at Ankara railway station in Ankara. Before the opening of the Ankara-Istanbul high-speed railway in 2009, the Istanbul–Ankara railway was the busiest line in Turkey as
Ankara Turkish as "Engürü". The form "Angora" is preserved in the names of breeds of many different kinds of animals, and in the names of several locations in the US (see Angora). Ankara has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen "Csa") which closely borders a hot summer Mediterranean continental climate (Köppen "Dsa"). Under the Trewartha climate classification, Ankara has a middle latitude steppe climate ("BSk"). Due to its elevation and inland location, Ankara has cold, somewhat snowy winters and hot, dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn. Ankara lies in USDA Hardiness zone 7b, and its annual average precipitation