Istanbul
HISTORY OF ISTANBUL METRO
Mister M presents
Istanbul Metro
Istanbul Metro Museum
The Istanbul Metro (Turkish: İstanbul metrosu) is a rapid transit railway network that serves the city of Istanbul, Turkey. It is operated by Metro Istanbul (known as İstanbul Ulaşım A.Ş. before 2016), a public enterprise, controlled by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality. The oldest section of the metro is the M1 line, which opened in 1989; it now includes 104 stations in service, with 64 more under construction.
The system consists of seven lines named M1, M2, M3, M4, M5, M6 and the M7. More lines are under construction or planned: M8 (Bostancı-Dudullu) will be on the Asian side, while M7 (Kabataş-Mahmutbey), M9 (Ataköy-İkitelli) will be on the European side.
Istanbul Metro is connected with the underground systems of the Marmaray tunnel (which connects the lines on the city's European and Asian sides) and the F1 funicular, and with the surface network of the T1 and T4 tram systems as well as the T5 tram.
The oldest underground urban rail line in Istanbul is the Tünel, which entered service on January 17, 1875. It is the world's second-oldest underground urban rail line after the London Underground which was built in 1863, and the first underground urban rail line in continental Europe.
The first master plan for a full metro network in Istanbul, titled Avant Projet d'un Métropolitain à Constantinople and conceived by the French engineer L. Guerby, dates to January 10, 1912. The plan comprised a total of 24 stations between the Topkapı and Şişli districts and included a connection through the Golden Horn. Each station would have a 75-metre platform next to the rail line, while the distance between stations varied from 220 to 975 metres. The blueprints of the project, which was never realized, are today displayed at the Istanbul Technical University Museum.
In 1936 the French urban planner Henri Prost proposed a metro network between the districts of Taksim and Beyazıt, to the north and south of the Golden Horn, respectively.
TIMELINE STORIES
MAPLINE routes
Istanbul Metro was founded in 1988 by the Istanbul Municipality to operate the city's rail systems. Our company, which continues to operate as a subsidiary of the Istanbul Municipality, operates the existing metro, tram, funicular and cable car lines in Istanbul.
233.05 km in Istanbul. The city railway network is in operation. 154.25 km on the common system. Serving more than 2 million passengers daily on 13 lines, Metro Istanbul is one of the world's top brands for service quality. The T1 Kabataş-Bağcılar tram line operated by Metro Istanbul has been selected by the International Public Transport Association as the best application in the world to meet the high demand of passengers.
Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey and an important tourist center of the country. Today, its transport system consists of buses, trams, funiculars, ferries and the metro. Moreover, the subway has been developing at a very rapid pace in recent years. And even though the route network will be finally formed only in a few years, today the Istanbul Metro is considered the most convenient urban passenger transport. Including for tourists.
Istanbul Metro
