A token to ride the shortest subway in the world
This is my entry for Day 20 “T” of the Blogging from A-Z April Challenge!
T = Turkey.
Obverse
This is a token of the İETT, short for İstanbul Elektrik Tramway ve Tünel (Istanbul Electric Tram and Subway). The public transport operator in Istanbul, capital city of Turkey. If Istanbul sounds familiar, then it might be because this is the sixth different piece from Istanbul / Constantinople, from three different empires / countries.
The IETT was founded in 1869 under the Ottoman Empire, they initially operated horse drawn trams. The design is the logo of the IETT featuring those letters in a square. The I is a candle and both T’s are swords with point up, hilt down. I’m not 100% on the history of the design, but I know I’m not about to attempt fare evasion on a transport system who use two swords in their logo…
Reverse
The reverse contains the operator’s name and indicates it is a “Jetonu” (Token) for the Tünel, a short underground railway that opened in 1875, making it the second-oldest underground urban railway in the world (after London Underground). It was also the world’s first underground funicular railway.
The Tünel dates back to the Ottoman Sultan Sultan Abdülaziz. French engineer Eugene Henri Gavand, living in Istanbul, observed people going back and forth between Yüksekkaldırım Hill and Galipdede Street and designed the elevator railway project that would connect these two points and presented it to Sultan Abdulaziz.
The tunnel makes 181 trips per day and carries between 10,000-12,000 passengers. The 573 metre (1,880 ft) journey between the two stops takes 90 seconds, making it the shortest underground railway. The service, which costs 1 Lira, runs every 5 – 10 minutes.
Image of the train approaching the lower platform, from Onedio.com
If I ever make it to Istanbul, riding this will definitely be on my bucket list. Very excitingly, while you can buy an Istanbulkart card for more frequent travel, you can still use Jetons on this service (as at April 2024 in any case):
Image of a Jeton for the IETT, courtesy IntroducingIstanbul.com
What location have you visited, or would you like to visit, inspired by something you learnt from a coin or token?
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