An Underground Line Between Two Continents

Text: Máté Gergő Kovács

A Tünel tervei, forrás: Gavand, 1876

„A dream of 150 years has come true” – this is the proud slogan of TCDD, the Turkish railways company. In 2013 on the 90th anniversary of the declaration of the republic Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and several of his foreign colleagues were present at the opening of the newest section of the underground in Istanbul, the first concept of which had been drafted back in 1876. Hearing this news, we may as well feel proud as the construction project of our underground line No. 4 has a past of 41 years only. However, on a closer inspection, the history of the project of the 63 km long Marmaray makes us realize it is spectacular for at least two reasons: firstly, it runs beneath the Bosporus Strait connecting Asia and Europe in an area which is most exposed to earthquakes, secondly, after a decade of design work and construction it was realized during the economic crisis. It is true what the press says: the earliest ideas of this astonishing venture go back to the times of the last Ottoman sultans. Thus it is worth surveying the exciting history of connecting Asia with Europe apropos of this contemporary project and looking at the unique public transport system of Istanbul.