Tünel Funicular

Location: Karaköy, Istanbul, Turkey
Operator of Vehicle: İETT
Date of Photo: August 13, 2009

I’m going to assume that most of the people reading this would immediately know that the world’s first underground railway opened in London.  Any guesses as to what the second and third underground railways are?  The second oldest is in Athens, where I visited for the first time in September (photos forthcoming eventually).  The third oldest is the Tünel in Istanbul, a underground funicular that opened in January of 1875.  Today, the Tünel is part of a much larger transit network that has expanded rapidly in the years since I visited Istanbul for a few days in August 2009.  However, if it were a standalone transit system, the Tünel would be one of the world’s shortest if not the absolute shortest, traveling a distance of less than 600 meters (or 2000 feet) between Karaköy and Beyoğlu (Tünel Meydanı).  The Tünel’s current rolling stock, seen here, was introduced in 2007.

For more photos of the Istanbul Tünel, please click here.