The station was built in 1886 to be one of the four intermediate stations on the 67 kilometres (42 mi) long Adana–Mersin Railway Line (others being Zeytinli, Yenice and Taşkent). It became a part of the Berlin-Baghdad Railway in 1911. This increased the traffic of the station. After the Republic of Turkey was proclaimed in 1923, Turkish government began the railway nationalization project. According to act no.1376 (Jan. 5, 1929) Adana-Mersin railway was also absorbed by the Chemins de Fer Ottomans d'Anatolie (Turkish: Osmanlı Anadolu Demiryolları), a subsidiary of the Turkish State Railways (TCDD). Presently the number of intermediate stations is 9.
The station building
The original station building no longer exists. The present station building was built in 1949. The building is symmetrical. The tollbooths are in the central section.[2]
Services
The majority of trains using Tarsus station are freight trains. The main passenger service is between Mersin and Adana, 23 times daily, all of which stop at Tarsus.[3] Some of these trains connect with main line trains at Yenice, the next station east of Tarsus.
