The Tünel funicular entrance sits under a simple, understated archway on the edge of Beyoğlu. It is the second oldest underground urban rail line in the world, opening in eighteen seventy-five to connect the steep hillside of Pera to the shipping docks at Karaköy. French engineer Eugène Henri Gavand designed the system after watching people struggle to walk the exhausting incline. He convinced the Ottoman authorities to let him build a tunnel where steam-powered wooden cars could haul passengers up the slope.
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