Turkey has opened an underwater railway tunnel linking Europe and Asia,
and the two sides of Istanbul, realizing a plan initially proposed by an
Ottoman sultan about 150 years ago.
The Marmaray tunnel runs under the Bosporus, the strait that connects
the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and divides Istanbul between Asia
and Europe. The tunnel is 13.6 kilometres long, including an underwater
stretch of 1.4 kilometres.
| It is among a number of large infrastructure projects under the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan that have helped boost the economy but also have provoked a backlash of public protest. |
