Eurail Group has officially announced Turkey will join the Eurail Global and Eurail Select Pass when TCDD, the Turkish railway company, becomes a Eurail Pass member on January 1st, 2013.

With Turkey ranked as the sixth most popular tourist destination in the world, visited by more than 31.5 million foreign tourist in 2011, Eurail Group GIE expects the country to become a very popular choice among Eurail Pass travellers as well.

Although Turkey is accessible by train from Bulgaria, travellers should be aware that construction work will affect some routes until the fall of 2013.

At the same time Westbahn will also be the first private railway company to join the Eurail Group railway community in January, offering Eurail Pass holders the opportunity to enjoy its high-speed services between Salzburg and Vienna.

Westbahn, a December 2011 start-up enterprise, is offering hourly passenger train service between these two cities.