Chemins de fer Ottomans d'Anatolie
The Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie (Turkish: Osmanlı Anadolu Demiryolları, English: Anatolian Railway), founded on 4 October 1888, was a railway company that operated in the Ottoman Empire. The company was headquartered in Istanbul.
Map of the CFOA system in 1912. | |
Turkey's most famous railway station, Haydarpaşa station, was built and operated by the CFOA. | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Constantinople |
| Reporting mark | CFOA |
| Locale | Central Anatolia, Ankara to Istanbul, with branches to Adapazarı, Kütahya, and Konya |
| Dates of operation | 1888–1924 |
| Successor | CFAB |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) |
| Length | 1,023 km (636 mi) |
The CFOA was the busiest railway in the Ottoman Empire and was one of the two railways operating into Istanbul, along with the Chemins de fer Orientaux. The Baghdad Railway (Istanbul-Aleppo-Baghdad) connected with the CFOA at Konya to allow rail transport from Istanbul to the Middle East, although the Baghdad railway was not completed until 1940. The CFOA serviced major cities such as Istanbul, İzmit, Adapazarı, Bilecik, Eskişehir, Ankara, Kütahya and Konya. The railway also operated the Port of Haydarpaşa and the Port of Derince.
The railway was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Société du Chemin de fer Ottoman d'Anatolie, created on 8 October 1888 by the Deutsche Bank to operate the railway.