ECONOMY
Underwater Marmaray tunnel linking Europe and Asia via Istanbul opens
Istanbul, October 30 (AZERTAC). A railway tunnel underneath the Bosporus Strait has been opened in Turkey, creating a new link between the Asian and European shores of Istanbul. The inauguration ceremony was attended by President of Turkey Abdullah Gul, Prime Minister of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Premier of Japan Shinzo Abe, President of Somali Hasan Sheikh Mahmoud and other foreign delegations led by high rank governmental dignitaries.
The tunnel’s underwater section runs for 0.8 miles (1.4 km), but in total the tunnel is 8.5 miles (13.6 km) long.
The idea was first floated by Ottoman sultan Abdoul Mejid in 1860 but technical equipment at the time was not good enough to take the project further. And now, the tunnel was inaugurated on the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Turkey.
Azerbaijani delegation led by transport minister Ziya Mammadov attended the opening ceremony.
Officials hope that with up to 1.5 million passengers a day, the tunnel will ease some of Istanbul's chronic traffic, particularly over the two bridges linking the two sides of the city. A more distant dream is that the tunnel may become part of a new train route for rail travel between Western Europe and China.
Süleyman Karaman, Chairman of Turkish State Railways (TCDD) told AZERTAC that the project is called “modern Silk Way”, which is, according to him, a part of large complex to connect the huge Beijing-London communication line and further the Baku-Tbilisi-Kars railway.
State and government officials cut the red ribbon and then toured the tunnel.