• Publish Date
  07.11.2022
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16 Million Istanbulites’ Metro İstanbul is 34 years old!

Metro Istanbul, one of the affiliate companies of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM), Turkey's largest urban rail system operator, celebrated its 34th anniversary. Istanbul, the only city in the world where the construction of 10 metro lines continues at the same time, held the celebration at Kadıköy Festival Park. Istanbulites had fun with Group Gripin concert.

Metro Istanbul, whose foundations were laid in 1988 by the IMM Mayor Bedrettin Dalan, celebrated its 34th anniversary with 17 lines, 195 stations and 951 vehicles, with a length of 192 kilometres. Working with the aim of providing punctual, comfortable, entertaining, technological and environmentally friendly transportation services to Istanbulites, Metro Istanbul celebrated its 34th anniversary with Istanbulites at the events held in Kadıköy Festival Park. In the events that started with the stage performance of the metro musicians, a short film was screened in which the rail systems journey of Istanbul from the end of the 19th century to the present. The event, which took place with an intense participation, continued with the concert of the Group Gripin after the speech of Özgür Soy, General Manager of Metro Istanbul.

General Manager Özgür Soy, who started his speech by reminding the statement of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of our Republic, "The railways are the roads of prosperity and civilization of the Turkish nation", said, "No matter what period, the rail systems built in Istanbul are covered by the taxes of the people of Istanbul. These metros are yours, ours. That is why we thought it was your right to know its history. In the movie we watched, we saw that; trams became widespread in Istanbul in the first years of the Republic, and at the end of the 1950s, Istanbul became one of the few cities with the world's largest urban rail system network. Even though rail systems disappeared from the lives of Istanbul residents for a while, our mayors, who prioritized the sustainability of the city, took the strength from the vision of the first years of the Republic, focused on rail systems again and started investments.

Metro Istanbul was founded in 1988 under the name of Istanbul Ulaşım

Reminding that the foundation of M1 Yenikapı-Atatürk Airport/Kirazlı Line, which is one of the most important lines of Istanbul today, was laid by the then IMM Mayor Bedrettin Dalan in 1986, General Manager Özgür Soy said, “In 1988, Metro was established as a separate operating company in order to give the city's rail systems management a corporate identity. Istanbul was founded under the name of Istanbul Transportation. Immediately after, the first phase of the M1 line was commissioned in 1989. Taking office after Mr. Dalan, Prof. Dr. Under the leadership of Mayor Nurettin Sözen, the foundation of our T1 Kabataş-Bağcılar Tram Line, the tram line carrying the most passengers in the world, was laid, and the first phase of this line was commissioned in 1992. Again, in 1992, the foundation of our M2 Yenikapı-Hacıosman Line, the metro line carrying the highest number of passengers in Istanbul, was laid. When we look at the rail systems journey of Istanbul, we see that our extremely visionary managers laid the foundations of our M1, T1 and M2 lines, one of the first metro and tram lines that are still actively used today.

“A new era for rail systems began in 2019”

Underlining that a new era has started for rail systems in Istanbul with the appointment of IMM Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu in 2019 and that rail systems are positioned as the backbone of public transportation, General Manager Soy said, “Rail systems are an indicator of development all over the world. We need to increase the use of rail systems in order to leave a sustainable Istanbul where they can breathe easily for future generations. When we look at June 2019, the constructions of many of our lines were at a standstill, some lines were named, but even nails had not been hammered yet. Financing problems of our unfinished lines have been resolved and Istanbul has become the only city in the world where 10 metro constructions continue at the same time. At the same time, we commissioned our 3 lines in 3 years”.

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