Tunel |
|
Built by French engineers, Istanbul's Tünel allowed European diplomats and businessmen to ride between their waterside offices in Karaköy (Galata) and their hilltop residences in Beyoglu (Pera). When it opened (Dec. 1874), the Tünel was powered by horses with Electrification coming in 1910. "Tunel" subway line in Istanbul runs 573 meters under ground in the Pera district (the medieval Italian Quarter of Istanbul), climbing up a height of 60 meters, and is the world's second-oldest subway line after the metro of London (1863), and Budapest (1896) is third ,being the oldest complete "electrical subway network" in continental Europe. When it entered service in 1875, Turkey and Austria still had direct borders (predating the 1877 Russo-Turkish War in which Turkey lost much of the Balkans), and Vienna was still a "border city" between the West and the East. For over a century it was Istanbul's only underground funicular train. Although the city has now completed several lines of its far-flung Metro system, and the Tünel's wonderful old 19th-century lacquered-wood cars were replaced by boring modern metal cars in the 1971, the Tünel is still fun to ride, between Karakoy and Tunel Meydani (Tunnel Square) and quite convenient.
|
