İZBAN

İzmir Banliyö Sistemi
İZBAN 23009 EMU at Alsancak.
Reporting mark	İZBAN
Locale	İzmir
Dates of operation	2006–
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	25 kV AC
Length	80 km (50 mi)
Headquarters	Alsancak Terminal, Alsancak
Website	İZBAN Official Site

İZBAN, sometimes referred to as Egeray, is a commuter rail system serving İzmir and its metropolitan area. It is the busiest commuter railway in Turkey, serving about 150,000 passengers daily. İZBAN is a portmanteau of the words "İzmir" and "Banliyö".

Established in 2006 and began operations in 2010, İZBAN was formed to revive commuter rail in İzmir. Currently, İZBAN operates a 80 km (50 mi) long system, with 31 stations, consisting of two lines: the Southern Line and the Northern Line.

İZBAN A.Ş. operates the railway and is owned 50% by the Turkish State Railways and 50% by the İzmir Metropolitan Municipality. İZBAN is a part of the municipality's Egeray project.

Fares

IZBAN has a system wide fare of 1.75 TL for adults and 0.95 TL for students and seniors using the Kentkart smartcard. Passengers also have a 90 minute free transfer after using a bus or subway for IZBAN.

Routes

IZBAN currently has has two routes; The Northern Line, serving the northern districts of the city and into Aliaĝa, The Southern Line, serving the southern districts, Adnan Menderes Airport and the southern town of Menderes.

Route	Distance	Termini	Districts served
Northern Line	53 km (33 mi)	Alsancak Aliağa	Konak, Bayraklı, Karşıyaka, Çiğli, Menemen, Aliağa
Southern Line	23 km (14 mi)	Alsancak Cumaovası	Konak, Buca, Gaziemir, Menderes

History

İZBAN A.Ş. was created on 25 July 2006, as a part of the İzmir Municipality's plan to improve rapid transit in the city. The Turkish State Railways and İzmir Municipality jointly created the company, to operate commuter rail service on existing lines between the town of Menderes (Cumaovası) in the south and the port town of Aliağa in the north, using Alsancak Terminal as a hub.

The Turkish State Railways suspended rail service into İzmir after July 25, 2006 for the upgrading of the existing line. 26 existing stations were rebuilt as well as adding 5 new stations (Esbaş, Mavişehir, Atasanayi, Egekent, Egekent 2) and 15 new bus terminals were built for passengers to transfer from the train to the city wide bus, ESHOT. The existing tracks built with wooden sleepers were taken up and re-laid with new rails and concrete sleepers. Two tunnels were built in Karşıyaka and Şirinyer. New modern signals were added as well as a control center in Alsancak Station to control signals on the whole line. Grade crossings were completely replaced by several new underpasses and overpasses, with the exception of one grade crossing 1 km south of Alsancak Station, that wasn't removed until August 2010. Turnstiles were added to all stations to integrate them with the city wide smart card, Kentkart. A new modern maintenance facility was built in Çiğli and is the second largest maintenance facility in İzmir, after the Halkapınar depot. Upgrading was finished on the southern line in mid 2009 and it was reopened to rail traffic on June 1, 2009. Upgrading of northern line was finished a year later and it reopened to rail traffic on May 1, 2010.

İZBAN placed orders, from CAF, for 33 sets of E22000 EMUs in 2007. The first sets arrived in İzmir via, the Port of İzmir, in March 2010. Testing of the southern Line began in April 2010. İZBAN also requested 3 sets of TCDD E23000 EMUs used on the Sincan-Kayaş Commuter Line for testing as well. When the Southern Line opened on August 30, 2010, the E23000 were sent back to Ankara. Testing for the Northern Line started on October 29, 2010 to January 31, 2011, when the line opened to the public.

Service

Currently, İZBAN operates 164 daily trains in both directions between Cumaovası and Aliağa. The entire line between Cumaovası and Aliağa are owned by the Turkish State Railways. There are also bus terminals integrated with several new stations. These stations are: Halkapınar, Şirinyer, Semt Garajı, Esbaş, Sarnıç and Cumaovası on the Southern Line, Mavişehir, Çiğli, Egekent 2, Hatundere, Biçerova, Menemen and Ulukent on the Northern Line.

Ridership

İZBAN is by far the busiest commuter railroad in Turkey, carrying more passengers than the rest of Turkey's other commuter railroads combined. The average daily ridership is about 100,000. In its first month, İZBAN carried about 2,000 passengers daily, this grew to 40,000 by the end of December and doubled to 80,000 by February. With the opening of the rail-bus transfers on the Northern Line, daily ridership has increased to 100,000. This is expected to rise to 140,000 by April. İZBAN, being only 6 month old has carried more than 1.6 million passengers since its opening on August 30, 2010, making it one of the worlds fastest growing commuter railroads. Below is a list of the top 10 busiest stations on the system as of September, 2011.

Rank	Station	Passngers (2011)	Daily Passengers	Line
1	Karşıyaka	2,061,535	8,380	Northern Line
2	Şirinyer	1,943,187	7,899	Southern Line
3	Halkapınar	1,793,536	7,290	Northern Line
4	Alsancak	1,483,999	6,032	Northern Line Southern Line
5	Çiğli	1,396,351	5,676	Northern Line
6	Menemen	1,044,191	4,244	Northern Line
7	Sarnıç	948,731	3,856	Southern Line
8	Nergiz	879,333	3,574	Northern Line
9	Bayraklı	872,063	3,544	Northern Line
10	Demirköprü	819,504	3,331	Northern Line

Future Extension

Cumaovası-Torbalı

Currently, İZBAN plans on extending its line 30 km south of Cumaovası to Torbalı after the line opens to Aliağa. This is planned to upgrade 4 existing stations: Tekeli, Pancar, Tepeköy and Torbalı. Also 3 more overpasses for motorways will be built. On March 6, 2011, the project was approved by the ministry of transport and the Prime Minister of Turkey.

Aliağa-Bergama / Torbalı-Selçuk

After the Torbalı extension is finished, İZBAN plans to extend the line 55 km north of Aliağa to Bergama and 32 km south of Torbalı to Selçuk. The goal of this project is to link the ancient cities of Pergamon and Ephesus with İzmir by rail.

Menemen-Manisa

An extension to Manisa is planned and construction is expected to begin towards the end of 2011. This would mean the upgrading of several stations (Emiralem, Ayvacık, Muradiye, Horozköy) and a major upgrade of Manisa, as well as adding a few new stations to serve all villages near the line. Together with this, the existing single track line, would be made double track and electrified with 25 kV AC overhead wire.

Gallery

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  A southbound train departing Alsancak station.

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  A southbound train departing Çiğli station.

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  A train waiting to head back to Alsancak station during a test run before its opening.

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  A northbound train arriving at Çiğli station.

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  A train arriving at Alsancak station on opening day.

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  E22017 at Alsancak Station.

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  E22008 at Adnan Menderes Airport.