Ire at plan for city 'jewel'

Legendary Train Station: Idea for Art Centre and Public Garden

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When Senay Kartal worked at Türkiye's most beautiful railway station, her days were filled with the rumble of locomotives and the bustle of passengers at Haydarpasa on the banks of the Bosphorus.

But gone are the days when passengers from Anatolia would walk its marble halls, suitcases in hand, marvelling at the grandiose landmark on Istanbul's Asian waterfront.

Today, the tracks lie silent at what was Türkiye's busiest station, the great eastern hub of the Berlin to Baghdad railway.

Once immortalised in old Turkish films and portrayed in numerous novels, the station has been taken over by the Turkish culture ministry for an art centre.

Yet for retiree Kartal, 61, the iconic building should remain a railway station.