İZBAN trains

İZBAN is İzmir's suburban railway, the one commuter network in Turkey that TCDD Taşımacılık does not run, and it reaches the airport.

The company and the line

İZBAN A.Ş. is owned half by TCDD and half by İzmir Metropolitan Municipality, and it operates the trains itself rather than leaving them to TCDD Taşımacılık. The track underneath still belongs to TCDD. Trains started carrying passengers on 30 August 2010 over 80 km between Cumaovası and Aliağa, reached Torbalı in February 2016, and got to Selçuk in September 2017. That took the line to 136 km and 41 stations, from Aliağa in the north to Selçuk in the south, and İZBAN now calls itself the largest urban commuter system in the country.

Four service patterns share the line. Aliağa to Cumaovası and Menemen to Tepeköy carry the bulk of it through central İzmir, Tepeköy to Selçuk is a shuttle at the southern end, and a short Çiğli to Halkapınar working adds capacity at the peaks. Change at Halkapınar or Hilal for the İzmir Metro.

Trains to Adnan Menderes Airport

This is the sensible way into town. Alsancak to Adnan Menderes Havalimanı takes 31 minutes, with a train every 13 minutes between 06:39 and 22:15 and a thinner service either side, from 05:47 in the morning through to a last departure at 01:22. Coming the other way it is 28 minutes on the same pattern, from 05:12 until 00:54. Allow a few minutes on foot between the platform and your terminal at each end.

Riding on to Selçuk and Ephesus

Selçuk is the station for Ephesus, and İZBAN reaches it, but not in one train. There is no through service from Alsancak. You ride to Tepeköy in about an hour, with trains every 26 minutes, then change onto the Selçuk shuttle for a further 26 minutes. That shuttle runs 14 times a day, with gaps of an hour to 95 minutes through the day and two hours after the 21:50, so the connection decides your morning rather than the train. Time it well and the trip takes about 1h 35m. Time it badly and it is nearer 2h 50m.

If the timing does not fall right, take a TCDD Taşımacılık regional train instead. Those run direct from İzmir Basmane to Selçuk in 1h 18m to 1h 38m, eight times a day, and all but one carry on to Denizli for Pamukkale. From Selçuk station the north entrance to the ruins is a 3.6 km walk, about 50 minutes. Or walk 400 m to the bus station and take a Kuşadası dolmuş, which leaves you 900 m short of the entrance.

Paying for an İZBAN journey

You need an İzmirim Kart, the İzmir city travel card. A Bilet 35 multi-ride ticket also opens the gates, but an İZBAN journey uses three of its rides, so the card is the better buy for anything beyond a single trip. A contactless bank card works on the city's buses, metro and tram, but the municipal tariff excludes it from the suburban fares, so it will not open an İZBAN gate. Nor will a mainline TCDD Taşımacılık ticket, which is not among the travel media İZBAN's own rules accept at the turnstiles.

The card costs TRY 200 and you load travel credit on top. A full adult fare covers the first 20 km for TRY 40, then adds TRY 1.50 for every further kilometre. Bicycles travel free at any hour, in the first and last carriages, up to four per train and only when there is room, because a crowded platform puts other passengers first. Turkish inflation moves these figures, so read the current tariff before you budget.

The orange validator that decides your fare

İZBAN charges by distance, and the mechanism catches visitors out. Tapping in blocks the fare all the way to the end of the line, not the fare for the journey you intend. Getting off, you tap the card again on the orange refund validator at the station where you leave. Only then does the system work out the distance you actually travelled, charge that, and release the rest.

Skip the second tap and you are treated as having ridden to the terminus, with nothing refunded. The rules allow three hours between the two taps and require at least one station of travel. Look for the orange machine before you leave the station.

Pass holders on İZBAN

An Interrail or Eurail pass does not help here. İZBAN is not among the participating companies on Interrail's railway companies table, which lists TCDD Taşımacılık as the only train company in Turkey. That is a different thing from the two named exclusions on TCDD Taşımacılık, the Turistik Doğu Ekspresi and Marmaray. İZBAN is not in the table at all, so budget for an İzmirim Kart alongside your pass.

Contacting İZBAN

Timetables and the network map are at izban.com.tr, in Turkish, with a planner that takes a departure station, an arrival station and a day. The company answers on +90 232 398 32 32 and at info@izban.com.tr, and keeps its lost property office at Salhane station.