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I bet you’d never guess Tünel in Istanbul is the second oldest existing underground railway in the world. It’s second only to London, which opened in 1863.
Introduction to Tünel
Tünel is an underground funicular line in the district of Beyoğlu that connects Karaköy Square at the bottom with Istiklal Street at the top. The line is 573 meters (1,880 feet) long with 2 carriages running in opposite directions. The upper station is 61.55 meters (201.9 feet) above the lower one.
The Tünel funicular line was the idea of Eugène-Henri Gavand, a French engineer visiting Constantinople for tourism purposes in 1867. He was shocked at the amount of people walking up and down the stairs at Yüksek Kaldırım and dreamed of an underground funicular railway to help ease the problem. With the banking industry dominating Karaköy and the embassies and commerce at the top on Cadde-i Kebir (today’s Istiklal Street), the need for more efficient transportation was becoming a necessity.
Gavand returned to Constantinople in February 1868 to pitch his idea to the Ottoman government. His plan was approved by Sultan Abdülaziz on June 10, 1869, but several factors, including war in France, delayed financing and construction for two years. Construction finally began on July 30, 1871, and was completed in December 1874. The line opened to the public on January 17, 1875, but Gavand was noticeably absent from the opening ceremony.
Today, Tünel remains an important element of the Istanbul transportation system, and a ride on the funicular through the brick-lined tunnel is a nostalgic journey into the past.
Train Cars
The original two-car trains were wooden and powered by steam engines. One car was used for people and the other for goods and animals. They had separate compartments for men and women and were also separated into two classes. The wooden cars were used until 1968 when the line was shut down for renovation. It reopened in 1971 with electrified steel cars. In 2007, new cars were brought into operation.
Today, each car can carry 170 passengers and they run every few minutes. A trip takes about 90 seconds either way, with the cars traveling at 22 kilometers per hour (14 miles per hour).
Metrohan
The building atop Beyoğlu station is Metrohan. It was built between 1912 and 1914. It was originally planned to be a hotel but was developed as an office building instead. Istanbul’s public transportation company, İETT, purchased the building and used it as their headquarters.
İETT Building
In 1981, İETT was starting to outgrow Metrohan, so they started construction on a new headquarters. It was completed in 1983 and sits atop Karaköy Station. It’s seven stories high.
