Public transport in Istanbul: Encyclopedia II - Public transport in Istanbul - Metro

Public transport in Istanbul - Metro

The construction of the underground railway in Istanbul began in 1992.

The first line between Taksim and 4th Levent started servicing 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 are running in every 5 minutes in average and transporting 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 eventual earthquake of scale 9.0. (Metro stations are: 4.Levent, Levent, Gayrettepe, Şişli, Osmanbey, Taksim)

The second section of the metro from Taksim to Yenikapi, across the Golden Horn on a bridge and underground through the old city, is under construction. It will be 5.4 km long with 4 stations. At Yenikapi it will intersect with the extended light metro and with suburban train. Later it will be extended northwards from 4th Levent to Ayazaga, which is expected to be finished in February 2006.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Metro", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki