Friendship Express
The Friendship Express, was an international InterCity train jointly operated by the Turkish State Railways and TrainOSE S.A. from July 2005 to February 2011, linking Istanbul's Sirkeci Terminal, Turkey and Thessaloniki, Greece. Eastbound trains departed daily at 19:48 from Thessaloniki arriving to Istanbul at 08:07. Westbound trains departed at 20:30 from Istanbul, arriving to Thessaloniki at 09:33.
There were two trains on this service, one provided by TrainOSE and the other by TCDD. TrainOSE used OSE former SNCF type T2 sleeping cars while TCDD used TVS2000 type cars. The trains changed locomotives and crew at Pythio.
This train service was terminated on 13 February 2011. This is due to cost cutting by Greek state-owned company TrainOSE.
On 8 March 2016 were signed an intergovernmental agreement between Greece and Turkey for reconnecting the line Istanbul to Thessaloniki with an enhancement to Igoumenitsa with the goal to create the Egnatia Railway
