Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan travelled aboard the first train in the service from Ankara, stopping at a town en route to make a campaign speech.

 

The tracks allow trains to reach speeds of up to 250 km per hour.

 

Mr Erdogan, a candidate in presidential elections in August, has pledged to overhaul² Turkey's transport network.

 

"We made a promise. We worked hard. We crossed the mountains, and passed over rivers," Mr Erdogan said, at a campaign stop in the town of Eskisehir.

 

"Despite all the attempts of sabotage³（破坏，妨害）, blockade, and slowdown, we completed the line and opened it for service today."

 

The inauguration⁴（开始，开幕） of the train link has been beset⁵（困扰） by hitches⁶ and delays, most recently when a train crashed into a maintenance vehicle.

 

The new service will terminate in the Istanbul suburb of Pendik, on the Asian side of the Bosphorus.

 

The government plans to build a further rail link, under the Bosphorus, to the centre of the city, but it is unclear when this will happen.

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