Lake Van Ferry
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The Lake Van Ferry (Turkish: Van Gölü Feribotu) is a passenger and train ferry service operated by the Turkish State Railways. It runs 90.6 kilometres (56.3 mi) in Lake Van between Van and Tatvan. Ferry service began operations in 1971, when a railway from Van to Sufian, Iran was built. The ferry carries mainly railcars across the lake along with passengers. Passengers of the weekly Trans-Asia Express used the ferry to bridge the gap between the two railways until the service was suspended in July 2015.[1]
| |
| Locale | Van and Tatvan, Turkey |
|---|---|
| Waterway | Lake Van |
| Transit type | Train/automobile/passenger ferry |
| Operator | Turkish State Railways |
| Began operation | 1971 |
| System length | 90.6 km (56.3 mi) |
| No. of lines | 1 |
| No. of vessels | 2 |
| No. of terminals | 2 (Van, Tatvan) |
As of 2018, there are two operational ferries. These are new ferries, with greater capacity, ordered by the State Railways. [2]
The new ferries require a loading ramp with four tracks, instead of three for the older boats. Accordingly the ramp was rebuilt in 2015, in time for the commissioning of the Sultan Alparslan ferry. From that date, the older ferries could no longer be used[3].
| Name | Year | Gross tonnage (t) | Scrapped |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orhan Atliman | 1971 | 1918 | 2024 |
| Refet Ünal | 1972 | 1918 | 2025 |
| Tatvan | 1975 | 1766 | 2025 |
| Van | 1976 | 1766 | 2026 |
| Sultan Alparslan | 2015 | 6900 | |
| Idris-i Bitlis | 2018 | 6900 |
The crossing took about 4 and a half hours with the four older ferries and 3 and a half hours with the two new ferries. The loading and unloading varies between 1 and 2 hours depending on the load and the conditions. Each ferry has the capacity of two round trips per day. [5].
Sultan Alparslan and Idris-i Bitlis ferries have 4 tracks, 125m long each. This gives a total length of 500m of track. They have a 3870 tonnes[6].