Istanbul Has Its Nostalgic Tram

President Uysal 8 made the promise in November and brought the nostalgic tram, one of the symbols of Istanbul, to the residents of Istanbul again.

Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mevlüt Uysal kept his promise to the people of Istanbul on the 40 day of his duty and completed the construction works on İstiklal Street and put the nostalgic tram into service.

President Uysal met with journalists on the 8th of November and asked the question of when a journalist will complete the work on Istiklal Avenue, “Every blessing becomes a burden, a blessing of every burden. I think the work done on Istiklal Street is correct. Istiklal Street is a historical place from pre-Republican era. It was said that we should do a good work and not get there again. We plan to finish it by Christmas. ” he replied.

A ceremony was held at Taksim-Tünel on the restoration of the Nostalgic tram and the renovation work at İstiklal Street. Mayor Ahmet Misbah Demircan, İBB General Secretary Hayri Baraçlı, İETT General Manager Ahmet Bağış and many citizens attended the ceremony attended by President Uysal and Istanbul Governor Vasip Şahin.

President Uysal gave the good news that the Nostalgic tram will provide free service during the 1 week. Al Our Nostalgia train has started its activities as of the new year and the works have been finished. As you know, this nostalgia train started in 1883 during the first Ottoman period and served until 1961. Then their voyages stopped. Again in the 1990 was the nostalgic train service started. This tram, which started to serve as a nostalgic train rather than a transportation, also provided an important service in transportation n.

- When will this street end?
Emphasizing that Beyoğlu Istiklal Avenue has been a very busy street since the Ottoman era, President Uysal said, “There were renewal works in İstiklal, those works did not say that they did not give full efficiency, but soon they created new working needs. Our Metropolitan Municipality started to work here at the end of 2016 in order to say, 'Let's do such a work so that there is no need to work again in a short time.' As of January 2017, 19, our train stopped. Work started here. The studies here took longer than our estimate. When I started my job in early October, my first question was, 'When will this street end?' "had been used."

President Uysal also thanked for the patience they showed to the shopkeepers on Istiklal Street and continued his speech by recalling the statement “Every blessing is a burden, every burden will be a blessing”: The blessing of the long work here is now here again - in a short time - that there will be no work. Here, especially in terms of infrastructure, there were problems due to rainwater and sewage going through the same channel, those channels were separated. Again, in the infrastructure, there was a constant need for excavation about İGDAŞ, İSKİ and BEDAŞ, TELEKOM and cables. The infrastructure of all of them has been completed. About 148 kilometers of infrastructure pipes were installed here, 30 percent of which is empty, but in the future, new technologies will be able to use those channels if needed. We said that we will do the opening today, "Let's do it on Thursday", but the last few are missing. We said to finish completely and then open and today it was fortune to open. For the work done here, we examined examples from around the world. In particular, we looked at what is done to avoid damaging the historical texture. We examined what kind of materials are used in such places and what measures can be taken. ”

President Uysal also informed about the concrete floor used in the renovation works of Istiklal Street and said: al Due to the vibration of this railway track, measures have been taken to prevent damage to both the six buildings and the buildings on the edge Başkan.
“This measure was actually taken 130 years ago during the construction of the Hejaz Railway. When a railroad was reached near Mecca - Medina, the railroad rails were wrapped with felt so that the railroad would not damage the area. It is ensured that the environment is not damaged due to vibration. This system, which was applied in that period, is now being applied with rubber in the world. The same was applied here. The vibration here damaged the infrastructure and the historical texture in the environment. With the measures taken, I hope there will be no problem with the infrastructure again for the next 20 years. ”

-Taksim square-
President Uysal continued his speech by stating that they will work with the Governorship of Istanbul and prevent the entry of heavy tonnage vehicles in order not to damage the historical fabric. Work on Taksim Square started in 2015. It is about to end there and 99 have been completed. However, although Taksim Square is finished, you know that Atatürk Culture Center will have a new building and its demolition is starting. Our ministry is building this construction, which will be completed in 2019. While our Ministry is making that cultural center, we will also take the Mete Street traffic underground. While doing such a nice project, we thought it would be right to take the traffic there. I hope it will be completed in 2019. I would like to thank our mayor, Kadir Topbaş, who worked before us for his work. ”

Stating that there were criticism due to the lack of trees on Istiklal Avenue and they will implement a project in 2018, President Uysal continued: “You know, there were no trees here in the past. In 1995, the Mayor of that period, Nusret Bayraktar Bey, planted about 162 trees here. But since there were six hard floors, those trees did not grow. When we look at the world, it is not possible to grow trees in such historical areas because the ground is completely hard ground. When you give water to that hard ground, the team never ends the problem here. So will Istiklal Street be deprived of green? Hopefully he will not be deprived of green. There will be seating areas in certain sections, and around those seating, there will be greenery and blooming in different ways. If you say how they will be, Istanbul is really far ahead in this regard. There are vertical garden examples in Istanbul. In 2018 and beyond, we will move the greenery and flowers to the balconies by hand in hand with the citizen. Here, similar greenery will be provided. There was no tree growing here, there is no point in insisting again and damaging this historical texture. We carried our trees to the parks. ”

Speaking at the ceremony, Governor of Istanbul Vasip Şahin said, “Our metropolitan municipality has worked extensively, not only considering the landscape but also the landscape has not stopped. They have made a very detailed study in the infrastructure, especially in order to prevent some other discomfort and to meet the new needs that may arise, by focusing on the infrastructure. I thank everyone who contributed, ”he said.

President Uysal and Governor Şahin later traveled to Taksim Square from Tünel with a tram carrying 2 bin 500 passengers on the Taksim-Tunnel line.