Starting in 2013, a reform process in the Turkish rail freight sector resulted in liberalisation in 2017. This paper assesses the state of the demand before the liberalisation using rail commodity flow data of 2011–2016 period. With the GIS-based analyses, the study discusses the demand characteristics for city-based and station-based production/attraction values to detect important load centres and corridors for rail freight demand. The results include major rail commodity flows and origins-destinations in terms of transported net weights and revenue earnings. The evaluation of the relationship between city-based rail freight demand and gross domestic product (GDP) values showed that the origins/destinations of significant rail freight are not necessarily the most industrialised cities, but those are either port or mineral ore producing ones. Furthermore, analysis of the international rail freight traffic, mainly on the European borders, showed a decreasing trend in recent years. The findings of the study are expected to help new entrants and incumbent companies, including domestic or international ones, to compete in the freight market and offer competitive and reliable service to existing rail customers. This will attract new customers and thus, will hopefully contribute to the modal shift to rail from other modes of transport.

从 2013 年开始，土耳其铁路货运部门的改革进程导致了 2017 年的自由化。本文使用 2011-2016 年期间的铁路商品流量数据评估了自由化之前的需求状况。通过基于 GIS 的分析，该研究讨论了基于城市和基于车站的生产/吸引力值的需求特征，以检测铁路货运需求的重要负载中心和走廊。结果包括以运输净重和收入计算的主要铁路商品流量和始发地-目的地。对基于城市的铁路货运需求与国内生产总值 (GDP) 值之间关系的评估表明，重要铁路货运的出发地/目的地不一定是工业化程度最高的城市，而是港口或矿石生产城市。此外，对主要在欧洲边境的国际铁路货运量的分析，近年来呈下降趋势。研究结果有望帮助新进入者和现有公司，包括国内或国际公司，在货运市场上竞争，并为现有铁路客户提供有竞争力和可靠的服务。这将吸引新客户，因此有望促进从其他运输方式向铁路的模式转变。在货运市场上竞争并为现有铁路客户提供有竞争力和可靠的服务。这将吸引新客户，因此有望促进从其他运输方式向铁路的模式转变。在货运市场上竞争并为现有铁路客户提供有竞争力和可靠的服务。这将吸引新客户，因此有望促进从其他运输方式向铁路的模式转变。