The Route and What’s Included The TSW Route that I’m suggesting would include the Turkish State Railways (TCDD) Yüksek Hızlı Tren service from Istanbul to Gebze in Turkey. The Distance from Halkalı to Gebze is 39.2 miles. Why It Should Be Added The Yüksek Hızlı Tren is a fairly new railway service, which began operation in 2009. I know that sounds unusual, but that would be interesting, and I believe ultimately popular among the community. The Yüksek Hızlı Tren (Turkish for "high speed train") is a Turkish high speed train that goes to Istanbul, Ankara, and Konya. The reason I believe it is the a great line for TSW is because it is outside of Europe, and has a unique twist. Halkalı Railway Station is on the European side of Istanbul, so the trains have to go through the Marmaray Tunnel, which goes under the Bosphorus Strait, crossing between the Europe and Asia. One special feature this route could potentially include is cats that wander around at Halkalı, since Istanbul is famous for having over 100,000 stray cats roaming the streets. This could potentially add a whole new future for TSW, where routes can be expanded out of Europe of the US. Rolling Stock The rolling stock for the route would include the Siemens Velaro TR, classified by Turkish State Railways as the TCDD HT80000. The TCDD HT80000 high speed EMU's are the same type of Siemens Velaro as the DB BR 407 ICE 3, and the BR Class 374/Eurostar E320. Allof these details would make the game feel as if you were in right there in the city of Istanbul, driving a high speed train through the Marmaray Tunnel. A TCDD HT80000 in Ankara Image Source: Wikimedia Commons
