Trans Asia Express - anyone any experience of it
 

Hi

Based on a tip of from another traveller who is going West I,d lıke to jump on the TransAsia Express train wıth my bike to go from Istanbul or Ankara to Tehran. Has anyone done this? As the luggage master at the Istanbul train station refused to acknowledge this was possible!

paul

Paul.
I came the other way and at the Iranıan sıde of the boarder they forced me and my bıke off the traın sayıng that they dıd not stamp carnets at the crossıng. I was thrown off the traın ın the nıght wıth no fuel card ın the raın to rıde north over 200km to the road crossıng ınto turkey.
The rıde from the boarder through turkey ıs VERY VERY cold. I only got through the snow passes by gettıng my bıke on a truck headıng west.
Even ıf you get thrown off the traın ıt ıs worth gettıng through that part of turkey. Soon ıt wıll be totally closed I thınk.
Good luck rıdıng west to east.
Craıg

Cheers mate, I wıll plan to stıck bıke on traın from Ankara to Tatvan and ıf ıt gets further than that I,ii be pleased :-)

A CouchingSurfıng friend says:

I called the Turkish State Railways to confirm whether they got bike to train. They said "If you load and unload the bike, there is no problem for us." As far as I remember, they will charge an extra $75-$100 for the bike (300-350 kgs). It will depart from Ankara at Thursday 07:40 so it is better to be there an hour earlier. There is a 1-1,5m (3-5 feets) height difference between the train and the platform though it is not hard to load the bike to the train with a ramp. I did it during my Black Sea Trip. As far as I remember, there was a ramp but I dont know it is still there. If there isnt, you need to find or make a ramp before you go to the train station. You will need a strap to secure the bike in the freight car. Straps with the hooks are the best to secure it. About unloading, I dont know aything about Iranian side.

Some safety notes about train: Do not leave anything other than the bike in freight car because the freight car is an uncontrolled area. Everyone can get in and out anytime they like. Do not leave any valuables in the compartment. The food in the resturant car is good and safe though a bt pricey. They also serve alcohol in the restaurant.

In Van, They take the freight car and passengers by ferry to the other side of Van Lake and transfer you to Iranian Railways' Train. (They connect the freight car to the Iranian train also.)

Answer
 

Hi Paul,

It's already answered in another thread. Pls look at there:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...s-turkey-30797

Sami