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Built by French engineers
and inaugurated on January 17, 1875, Istanbul's Tünel underground
train allowed European diplomats
and businessmen to ride between their
waterside offices in Karaköy (Galata)
and their hilltop residences in Beyoğlu (Pera)(map)
on steam-powered, gas-lit cars in
90 seconds.
It was only the third underground
railway built in the world by that
time, and was the shortest.
For over a century it was Istanbul's
only underground train.
The Tünel's
wonderful old 19th-century lacquered-wood
cars were
replaced by boring modern metal cars
in the 1970s, and again in 2009, but
the Tünel
is still fun
to ride, and quite convenient.
Here is fare
info.
As there are only two stations, you
won't get lost.
The Tünel operates
from about 06:00 am until 22:00 (10
pm). I don't know for sure. I went
to the IETT
website to look up the
times. The website has all sorts of
moving, flashing, sliding baloney on
it, and it gives you lots of wonderful
historical facts about
transport in Istanbul, but it doesn't
tell you the times that services operate.
Duh!
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Above, Tünel's
little two-car train.
Below left, the tunnel that
gives the train its name.
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