Basmane Garı

Basmane Station is one of the two main railway stations of İzmir, standing on the square where Anafartalar Caddesi comes out at Basmane, in the Etiler neighbourhood of Konak. Its name comes from the basma, or cloth-printing, workshops that once worked in this quarter; in the earliest records the station is called Basma Hane. Its story reaches back to the first railways of Anatolia: the İzmir - Kasaba line, Kasaba being today's Turgutlu, built by the British-financed Smyrna Cassaba Railway company, entered service from this station on 25 October 1866. The line was later extended as far as Afyonkarahisar, and Basmane became the gate through which the farm produce of the Aegean interior reached the port. The Ottoman government had allocated an area of about 20,000 square metres for the station, workshops and depots. The company passed into French hands in 1894; TCDD, the Turkish State Railways, bought the company and took over operations on 1 June 1934. The sources differ on the architect and the construction year of the present building. Culture and tourism promotional texts attribute the building to a design by Gustave Eiffel and to construction by the French company Regie Generale in 1876; Turkish Wikipedia and the architectural writing, on the other hand, make no mention of that name and date the structure to the end of the 19th century. So listen to the name of Eiffel as a legend, not as a document. What is certain is the architectural language: the neoclassical building is three-part and symmetrical, the central three-storey section is raised with its steep roof, and the facade uses cut-stone window frames, pediments, pilasters and cornices. The steel canopy covering the platforms, with a span of about 23 metres, consists of two shallow vaults; with its cast columns and arches it is the characteristic example of 19th-century station architecture in İzmir. The words BASMANE GAR in the middle of the facade and the TCDD emblem at the top of the roof are the emblem of the square. The station was badly damaged in the great fire of İzmir in September 1922; the repairs were carried out from 1927 onwards, after the foundation of TCDD in 1926. The İzmir International Fair, opened in Kültürpark in 1936, increased the importance of the station, and the surrounding streets turned into a hotel district. Suburban trains left from here to Bornova from 1984 to 1995 and to Çiğli until 2006. On 22 May 2000 the Basmane station of the İzmir Metro opened beneath the station; the underground station is reached only through the station building. Passenger service stopped during the renovation of 2006 and resumed in 2009; in 2022 a new modernisation and restoration programme was started. The station is still the departure and arrival point of all of İzmir's main-line and regional trains. Today there are seven tracks on one side platform and three island platforms. Main-line trains towards Ankara, Konya and Bandırma and regional trains towards Denizli, Aydın, Söke, Ödemiş, Tire, Alaşehir and Uşak depart from here. For timetables and tickets see the TCDD Taşımacılık website; the ticket office also sells international tickets. The M1 line of the metro is beneath the station; at the next stop, Hilal, you change to İZBAN. ESHOT buses pass in front of the station; Kültürpark is 1 kilometre away and the seafront about 1.5 kilometres. The building has a lift and ramp, a waiting room and travel-card sales; there are no luggage lockers, and the building is not open 24 hours, so find out the door times in advance for night trains. From the pavement opposite the square you see the full symmetry of the facade; because traffic is heavy, an early hour is best. Go inside and pass under the platform canopy: the rhythm of the steel arches is worth a photograph even when no train arrives. Ask the staff on site about the rules for entering the platforms. Anafartalar Caddesi, which starts in front of the station, descends to Kemeraltı, while Kadifekale rises on the hill right above the station. This is why Basmane is the place where the city's oldest layers of transport, trade and lodging are stacked on top of each other. Those arriving by metro step directly into the station building at the exit; this passage joins new and old İzmir in a single move. To walk to Kültürpark, follow Şair Eşref Bulvarı; the old fire station building of APİKAM is on the way. Even if it is not your train day, stop by Basmane one morning: on the square where the first rails to Anatolia were laid, the station has been doing the same job for close to 160 years.