Istanbul Metro

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Istanbul Metro Gayrettepe station

The subway system in Istanbul was initiated in 1992 and was completed in 2000. The first line between Taksim and 4th Levent went into service on September 16, 2000. This line is 8.5 km long and has 6 stations, which all look similar but are in different colors. Currently there are 8 French built 4-car trains in service, which run every 5 minutes on average and transport 130,000 passengers daily. A trip along the entire line takes 12 minutes. The entire subway was built by the cut-and-cover method to withstand an earthquake of up to 9.0 on the Richter magnitude scale (Metro stations are: 4.Levent, Levent, Gayrettepe, Şişli, Osmanbey, Taksim)

A northern extension from 4th Levent to Ayazağa is now expected to be completed in early 2007. The southern section of the metro from Taksim to Yenikapı, across the Golden Horn on a bridge and underground through the old city, is also under construction with a tentative completion date of 2008. It will be 5.4 km long with 4 stations. At Yenikapı, it will intersect with the extended light metro and with the suburban train.

In Asiatic side the construction of metro which's from Kadikoy to Kartal still continues.

A new underwater tunnel project Marmaray is being built to connect the European and Anatolian side of the city.