Tünel
 |
|||
Beyoğlu station.
|
|||
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Owner | Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality | ||
| Locale | Istanbul | ||
| Transit type | Funicular | ||
| Number of stations | 2 | ||
| Website | Tünel/Tunnel | ||
| Operation | |||
| Began operation | January 17, 1875 | ||
| Operator(s) | İETT | ||
| Number of vehicles | 2 | ||
| Technical | |||
| System length | 573 m (0.573 km; 0.356 mi) | ||
| Track gauge |
1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard gauge) |
||
|
|||
The Tünel (English: Tunnel) is a short underground railway line in Istanbul, Turkey. It is an underground funicular with two stations, connecting the quarters of Karaköy and Beyoğlu. Located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the underground railway tunnel goes uphill from close to sea level and is about 573 metres (1,880 feet) long. Inaugurated on January 17, 1875, the Tünel is the second-oldest extant subterranean urban rail line in the world, after the London Underground (1863) and an 1862 funicular line in Lyon that has been converted into an underground. It is thus the oldest surviving underground urban rail line in continental Europe.
In the second half of the 19th century the neighborhoods of Pera (modern day Beyoğlu) and Galata (modern day Karaköy) had become the financial and commercial heart of Constantinople (modern day Istanbul) and the Ottoman Empire. Many Ottoman and foreign companies, mostly banks and insurance companies, set up their headquarters in these two neighborhoods. Separated by a large hill, Foreign embassies, hotels and commercial markets in Pera were located on the top while the stock exchange, banks and ports in Galata were at the bottom. Travelling between these two districts was tough as grades were as steep as 24%. The main street between these two areas, Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue, saw an average of 40,000 people commuting up and down the hill daily.
In 1867 a French engineer, Eugène-Henri Gavand, came to Constantinople for touristic purposes. During his visit he was taken aback at the amount of people travelling on Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue. Gavand thought of a method to connect these two areas and came up with building a funicular railway that would ascend and descend the hill. Gavand went back to France shortly after to prepare his project. He returned to Constantinople in February 1868 to present his project to the Sublime Port. The railway would run from beginning of Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue in Pera to Yenicami street and close to the Galata Bridge in Galata. On 10 June 1869 Sultan Abdülaziz granted Gavand with a concession to build the railway. Gavand worked with shareholders in France to start up a company to build the railway, but due to the Prussian invasion of France the formation of a French-based company became impossible.
...
Wikipedia