Turkish Train sleeper, Turkey
Turkish sleeper trains are great fun and a real bargain.
Each compartment in a Turkish State Railways (TCDD) sleeper (yatakli vagon) converts to sleep two or three people (in car).
Each compartment is carpeted and has a sink with running hot and cold water for washing face and hands, a small towel and soap, mirror, coat hanger, luggage rack, small closet, a window to the outside (with roll-up blind and thick velvet curtain light-blocking), heater, fan or air conditioning, ashtrays, and a collection container. The music channel system never seems to work (thank God).
The 220-volt low-current outlet above the sink is designed for electric shavers. It will recharge your cell phone, camra battery or laptop computer, but can cut off after a while. Simply unplug the device, wait a minute, then plug it again, and it will work again for a while.
The newer sleeping TCV2000 have small refrigerators for drinks and snacks in each compartment, although the mini-bar sized refrigerators are not so cold.
The berths are equipped with comfortable mattresses, sheets, blankets and pillows. A movable ladder giving access to the upper bunk.
There are toilets at each end of every sleeper, usually a flat “elephant’s feet” toilet at one end and an increased Western-style chest of drawers at the other end. The TCV2000 cars also have a small shower.
Sleeping car fares are cheap by European or North American standards: only TL75, TL100 included for two people (taxes and services) on the night Ankara Express between Istanbul and Ankara, Turkey expensive sleeper train (and my favorite). Food, beverages and Porter-tip are extra.
The newer sleeping cars have only two berths, the elderly can have three. A few older cars can be adjacent compartments in the middle of the car ideal for families of five fifty-six people, but these older vehicles are phased out.
Unlike cars or couchette, sleeping cabins are privately: a person, a couple or three people to book the whole compartment, assuring privacy.
Each sleeping car has its own carrier, which makes the beds in the evening, it converts to seats in the morning, drinks and snacks to passengers bringing in the compartments, announces meal times, and generally sees to the comfort of the passengers and animal welfare.
Sleeping compartments can be locked from the inside by its inhabitants, but the doorman can to block the tray from the hallway.
A sleeping berth is not as broad as long, or a normal bed, but is quite convenient when you are over six feet (183 cm) tall or very wide. However, I find that the doorman open the way the bed with the two upper, lower, and even the ceiling, folded in half and tucked in, do not work for me. I always tear off the leaves and the ceiling and re-make the bed for my taste.
If you are sensitive to light when you sleep, you should bring something with which the subject of the night light that comes automatically and is very bright (Turks do not like to sleep in pitch black cover). A 4-inch-by-4-inch (10 cm by 10 cm) square of cardboard and some tape would be good.
Also, the spring-loaded shutter refuse to stay all the way down, then jam a piece of paper in the room on the side between the bottom rail and the siding. That keeps him.
The upper part of the chamber-windows can be opened in the rule for some fresh air, if you wish, but only when the window shade is way up. Otherwise, freshly conditioned air are admitted through the ventilation slots on the top of the tray and exits through the vent under the window.
Please would you read this information regarding the safety of sleeping.
For each trip in a sleeper, I usually pack a 1.5-liter bottle of water and some snacks.
Sleepers are usually for passenger boarding bridges for about an hour before departure ready when you arrive at the station so early in the privacy rather than waiting, relax in the dreary waiting room.
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