Marmaray, Railway line in Istanbul Province, Turkey
Marmaray is a railway line that runs 76.6 kilometers (47.6 miles) from Halkalı on the European side to Gebze on the Asian side of Istanbul through an undersea tunnel. The route connects 43 stations and crosses the Bosporus in a section roughly 13.6 kilometers (8.5 miles) long beneath the seabed.
Sultan Abdülmecid I commissioned initial plans for an undersea tunnel connection in 1860, but work only began in 2004 after extensive preliminary studies. The line opened in 2013, establishing the first fixed rail link between Europe and Asia.
The name Marmaray combines Marmara and ray, the Turkish word for rail, reflecting the route beneath the Sea of Marmara. Commuters use the connection daily for trips between European and Asian districts, with passengers barely noticing any change while crossing beneath the Bosporus.
Trains run daily starting at 6 AM with intervals of 5 to 10 minutes during peak hours. The full journey between terminal stations takes around 108 minutes, with the Bosporus crossing taking roughly four minutes.
The tunnel reaches 60 meters (197 feet) below sea level, making it the deepest immersed tube tunnel in the world. Eleven prefabricated segments were lowered into the Bosporus and then connected, with each segment weighing up to 18,000 tons.
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