London, 1863. Istanbul, 1875. By the usual ranking, the two oldest underground railways in the world. One of them has two stops and takes about ninety seconds.
Galata sits at the bottom of a steep hill. Pera sits at the top.
A 2026 newspaper tells the origin like a legend: a visiting French engineer watched the crowds on that slope, proposed a line under it, and the Ottomans said yes quickly. His name was Eugène-Henri Gavand. What's documented: Sultan Abdülaziz granted him the concession in 1869.
Works began in 1871, the tunnel was finished in December 1874, and on 17 January 1875 the line opened to passengers, with two wooden two-car trains powered by steam.
Gavand missed his own opening ceremony.
It's a funicular, not a metro: cars in a single brick-lined tunnel with a passing loop in the middle. Two stations, Karaköy at the bottom and Tünel, on Tünel Square, 61.55 metres higher. Length, about 570 metres; sources disagree on the exact figure.
Still, İETT, which has run it since 1939, marked the 150th birthday on 14 February 2025 by calling it Türkiye's first and "the world's second-oldest metro". Wikipedia and an Istanbul Technical University paper say it more carefully: the second-oldest underground urban railway, after London's, opened 10 January 1863.
Steam and wood went in 1971, replaced by electric steel cars on rubber tyres; a new generation arrived in 2007. The ride takes about a minute and a half, top speed 22 km/h.
Ninety seconds. A hundred and fifty years. Not bad for a hill.
Ride it once each way. Start at Karaköy, go up, and step out onto Tünel Square with İstiklal ahead; the red tram story starts there. Hours and frequency weren't confirmed when we checked, nor İstanbulkart's use here.
