Ottoman Anatolian Railway
 |
|
Anatolian railroads in 1910 (CFOA in Blue)
|
|
Turkey's most famous railway station, Haydarpaşa station, was built and operated by the CFOA.
|
|
| Reporting mark | CFOA |
|---|---|
| Locale | Central Anatolia, Ankara to Istanbul, with branches to Adapazari, Kutahya, and Konya |
| Dates of operation | 1888–1924 |
| Successor | CFAB |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
| Length | 1,023 km (636 mi) |
| Headquarters | Constantinople |
The Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie (Turkish: Osmanlı Anadolu Demiryolları, English: Anatolian Railway), founded on 4 October 1888, was a railway company that operated in the Ottoman Empire. The company was headquartered in Istanbul.
The CFOA was the busiest railway in the Ottoman Empire and was one of the two railways operating into İstanbul, along with the Chemins de fer Orientaux. The Baghdad Railway (İstanbul-Aleppo-Baghdad) connected with the CFOA at Konya to allow rail transport from İstanbul to the Middle East, although the Baghdad railway wasn't completed until 1940. The CFOA serviced major cities such as İstanbul, İzmit, Adapazarı, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara, Kütahya and Konya. The railway also operated the Port of Haydarpaşa and the Port of Derince.
The railway was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie, created on 8 October 1888 by the Deutsche Bank to operate the railway.
The Ottoman Government, under the reign of Sultan Abdulaziz, started building a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge on the Asian side of İstanbul, from Haydarpaşa to Pendik in 1871. The line was opened on September 22, 1872. The railway was extended to Gebze, which opened on January 1, 1873. In August 1873 the railway opened to İzmit. The railway was built to serve a populated area along the Marmara Sea. The railway was then to be extended to Ankara and Mesopotamia. The line proved difficult to manage so in 1880, 60% ownership of the line was transferred to a British company. A 52.1 km (32.4 mi) 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) narrow gauge extension of the railway was built to Adapazarı the same year. The company could not finance the extension of the line to Ankara, so the company formed an Anglo-American syndicate under the leadership of Sir Vincent Caillard to complete the line. The syndicate still could not pull up the money needed to complete the line, so the company withdrew.
...
Wikipedia