Kars Train Station
Kars Station is a train station belonging to TCDD, located in the city center of Kars. The station is located on Bayram Acar Street and serves the Eastern Express, Touristic Eastern Express and Kars - Akyaka Regional Train.
Kars Station is also the starting/ending point of the Kars - Tbilisi section of the Ankara - Kars railway, Kars - Gyumri - Tbilisi railway and Baku - Tbilisi - Kars railway line.
The station serves Eastern Express and Touristic Eastern Express Mainline Trains and Kars - Akyaka Regional Trains.
Kars Station was built in 1899 by the Transcaucasian Railway in order for the Russian Empire to have better control on the Ottoman front. The tracks were originally of the standard Russian gauge. After Kars was taken back by Turkey after the War of Independence, the station was taken over by the Turkish State Railways, but Kars remained out of the rest of the railway network in Turkey until 1939 due to the Russian track opening. Passengers had to take a narrow train from Erzurum to Kars. The narrow gauge was replaced by the standard gauge in 1957 and the wide gauge was replaced in 1962.
Due to the closure of the Turkey-Armenia border, there was no train service to the east of Kars between 1993 and 2011. As of February 2011, train services to the east of Kars with the Kars - Akyaka Regional Train resumed.
