 in 2025, more than five times its 2022 loss in nominal lira terms, the BirGün daily reported, citing the 2025 financial report of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD).){kind=link}
Turkey’s state railway operator posted a net loss of 35.53 billion lira ($774 million) in 2025, more than five times its 2022 loss in nominal lira terms, the BirGün daily reported, citing the 2025 financial report of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD).
TCDD’s net loss rose from 6.39 billion lira in 2022 to 11.4 billion lira in 2023, 24.5 billion lira in 2024 and 35.53 billion lira in 2025, according to the figures reported by BirGün. The comparison is in nominal lira; the Turkish currency lost substantial value against the dollar over the period, so the increase in dollar terms would be smaller.
The daily described the 2025 figure as the largest loss in the institution’s history. TCDD’s commercial debt also climbed to 23.76 billion lira ($518 million), while its financial debt rose to 5.39 billion lira ($117 million) from 2.96 billion lira in 2022.
The losses have renewed opposition criticism of the 98-year-old institution, which has long been central to Turkey’s transport infrastructure but has faced scrutiny over its finances, senior appointments, property management and safety record.
Opposition lawmakers and railway unions have argued that the deterioration reflects mismanagement and politically motivated staffing under the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
One of the strongest criticisms has focused on appointments.
Main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Zonguldak deputy Deniz Yavuzyılmaz told a parliamentary committee, citing findings from Turkey’s Court of Accounts, the country’s top public auditor, that 40 manager-level posts at TCDD had been filled without the competitive promotion exams normally required.
During a 2025 meeting of parliament’s State Economic Enterprises Committee, Yavuzyılmaz said one employee had been made a guesthouse manager and then appointed as a security manager on the same day, calling the case an example of a lack of merit in public appointments.
Opposition lawmakers have also said that at least 15 former officials from the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality were appointed to senior positions at TCDD and affiliated railway bodies after Erdoğan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP) lost control of the municipality in the 2019 local elections.
CHP lawmaker Mahmut Tanal said the appointments turned the railways into what he called a “parallel İstanbul municipality.” CHP lawmaker Utku Çakırözer has separately argued that TCDD created a training department by board decision without first establishing a formal staffing position.
Safety concerns have added to criticism of the institution’s management. In July 2018 a train derailment near Çorlu in northwestern Turkey killed 25 people. A court-appointed expert report found several railway maintenance officials primarily at fault and cleared the train engineer, according to BBC’s Turkish service.
In December of the same year, a high-speed train collision near Ankara killed nine people. Critics have cited expert findings that pointed to signaling failures and unfinished track repairs, while professional chambers and opposition lawmakers criticized the removal of track watchmen before adequate electronic monitoring systems were in place.
TCDD’s losses also reflect broader structural pressures faced by state economic enterprises in Turkey. Public companies can record large losses when ticket prices, service obligations or investment decisions are shaped by public policy rather than profitability.