The oldest segment of the railway dates back to the early 20th century, during World War I, when a 53 km (33 mi) branch railway was built from Sufian to Sharafkhaneh.
The construction of a railway to Iran, via Van, was approved on 15 June 1937. The railway would continue east from Diyarbakır to Van and to the Iranian border at Kapıköy.[1] Construction began shortly after and the railway reached Kurtalan in 1940. Due to the mountainous terrain between Kurtalan and Tatvan, the route was changed and its western starting became Elazığ. From Elazığ the railway would be built to Tatvan, via Muş, reaching Tuğ in 1964.[2] A train ferry was established as a temporary means of transport between Tuğ and Van, as a bypass of Lake Van was planned.[3]
In the 1960s, Turkey and Iran came to an agreement to construct a railway from Van to Sharafkhaneh.
CENTO sponsored a railway line, some of which was completed, to enable a rail connexion between London and Tehran via Van. The Van-Sufian railway from Lake Van in Turkey to Sharafkhaneh in Iran was completed and funded in large part by the Central Treaty Organisation (mainly the UK). The civil engineering was especially challenging because of the difficult terrain. Part of the route included a rail ferry across Lake Van with a terminal at Tatvan on the Western side of the lake. Notable features of the railway on the Iranian side included 125 bridges, among them the Towering Quotor span, measuring 1,485 feet (453 m) in length, spanning a gorge 396 feet (121 m) deep.[4][5]
The Van-Razi segment opened on 29 October 1971, while the Razi-Sharafkhaneh segment opened in 1977.
