New Fast Line in European Turkey Opens

From Railway Gazette International (main article behind a paywall):

TURKEY: Ministers formally inaugurated the 153 km Çerkezköy – Kapikule section of the Halkali – Kapikule railway on October 9, representing the latest step in the creation of a double-track electrified main line from Istanbul to the Bulgarian border.

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Apart from the short stretch through Edirne, opened in 1971 to bypass Greek territory, this new railway replaces the original old, slow and indirect route via the Maritsa river valley and Uzunköprü, built by the Oriental Railway in 1873.
Two-thirds of the distance between the Bulgarian border and Istanbul is now covered by this new line.
Work is under way to upgrade the remaining 80km of the existing route to Halkali in the western suburbs of Istanbul.
The finished railway will be 55km shorter than the old one at 229km.
I haven't seen any timetables for the new railway, but it is bound to make reaching Istanbul by train much quicker - the current overnight train from Sofia consumes 7 hours in Turkey.

From https://www.seat61.com/news.htm

"The Sofia-Istanbul train has been accelerated to arrive Istanbul Halkali 07:21 instead of 09:56. Westbound, it will leave at 23:13 instead of 20:00."

JB_B said:

From https://www.seat61.com/news.htm

"The Sofia-Istanbul train has been accelerated to arrive Istanbul Halkali 07:21 instead of 09:56. Westbound, it will leave at 23:13 instead of 20:00."

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I'm not sure this is a good thing, I'd rather be able to get a good sleep...

I'm booked on the Istanbul to Sofia sleeper on Tuesday - and absolutely not looking forward to staying up until 23:00 or so (with a 6 year old) and then having very limited time to sleep before the border. In fact with the two border crossings, and the relatively early arrival in Plovdiv plus the new late departure from Istanbul, I am definitely having second thoughts (I have used this train many times in the past).

RailExplorer said:

I'm booked on the Istanbul to Sofia sleeper on Tuesday - and absolutely not looking forward to staying up until 23:00 or so (with a 6 year old) and then having very limited time to sleep before the border. In fact with the two border crossings, and the relatively early arrival in Plovdiv plus the new late departure from Istanbul, I am definitely having second thoughts (I have used this train many times in the past).

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I can see for day trains that speeding up services is great. It certainly doesn't sound so good for the sleeper though.

I agree with these thoughts, I’ve always preferred sleepers leaving slightly earlier.

I wonder if they could open it for boarding at say 21:30 (or ideally even earlier), like what the Night Riviera does at Paddington?

Class15 said:

I agree with these thoughts, I’ve always preferred sleepers leaving slightly earlier.

I wonder if they could open it for boarding at say 21:30 (or ideally even earlier), like what the Night Riviera does at Paddington?

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or extend it across the bosphorus/ back too Sirkeci?

is the old line remaining open or will it be closed now?

So I was on one of the last trains over the classic route on 1st October then? Or will there still be a handful of trains remaining?