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  11.11.2022
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The 101st inauguration in 100th day: F4 Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line is commissioned for the service of Istanbulites

F4 Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line was commissioned with a ceremony with the participation of CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) Ekrem Imamoglu, former IMM Mayors Nurettin Sözen and Ali Müfit Gürtuna. The 800-meter-long line offers transportation from Hisarüstü to Aşiyan in 2.5 minutes.
Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality (IMM) held its 101st inauguration on the 100th day of the "150 Projects in 150 Days" marathon. F4 Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line was commissioned after the opening ceremony attended by CHP Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, CHP Deputy Chairman Onursal Adıgüzel, CHP Istanbul Provincial President Canan Kaftancıoğlu, Mayor of Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Ekrem İmamoğlu and former Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality Mayors Nurettin Sözen, Ali Müfit Gürtuna and a group of Boğaziçi University students. Speaking at the opening ceremony, CHP Chairman Kılıçdaroğlu said:

“Living in a city like Istanbul has its own problems. However, in order to overcome those problems, in a sense, the city manager, the mayor, and their friends aspire to solve these problems. Mr. Mayor just explained in detail what difficulties he encountered and how he overcame them. Despite all these obstacles, Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu is a person who overcame all obstacles with reason, knowledge and experience and serves the people of Istanbul. In the presence of all of you, I heartily congratulate the Mayor".

“The tender was made without planning the financing of the line”

Saying, “Today, we are taking a small step for Istanbul's rail system network, but a big and important step for Istanbul,” IMM Mayor İmamoğlu also included the construction story of Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line in his speech. Emphasizing that it is necessary to know why the construction of the 800-meter line took 5 years, Mayor İmamoğlu said, “what happened during the construction of the line is like a striking summary of the metro works carried out in Istanbul for the previous 25 years. The tender for this line was made in March 2017. Work started in June 2017. According to the contract, this 800-meter line should have been finished in 2019. However, at the beginning of 2019, before we took office, the construction of the line was completely stopped. Because the tender was made without planning the financing. In addition, there were some important mistakes in the tender process. There were also many technical problems with the project. For example, the electronic and mechanical designs of the funicular vehicles and the system were not made. By the time the construction of the project was stopped, there were a few months left to the contract completion. Nevertheless, field progress was still at 26%. So, what percent was the financial progress when the business progress was only 26% percent? The 50% of his budget was already spent”.

“We don't call it the squandering system' from day one for no reason.”

Reminding his words, "We have not been saying squandering system' for no reason since the first day," Mayor İmamoğlu said, "The people of Istanbul understood this situation very clearly. 16 million people living in this city voted on March 31st and June 23rd knowing which order they ended and who overthrew their reign in Istanbul. Stating that they received the line with deficiencies in the project and insulation errors in the main line tunnel reinforced concrete, Mayor İmamoğlu said, “These errors cause water to enter the tunnel. Therefore, in reality, the project has not progressed even at the level of 26%. Such was the status of the work done and the quality of the inspection. As soon as we took office, we immediately made the equity budget planning. We restarted construction, vehicle and electromechanical system design and manufacturing. We quickly finished all the manufacturing work. We have completed the vehicle testing and commissioning processes. And thank God, we have come this far,” he said. Expressing his thanks to IMM Deputy Secretary General Pelin Alpkökin and her team for conducting the process, Mayor İmamoğlu continued his speech with the following words:

“No matter who is in duty, the project belongs to the nation, and to the state.”

“The gentlemen before us. I say 'gentlemen', Mr. President, because there were no senior 'female managers' among them. Look at Pelin Alpkökin who is the head of these important infrastructure works. These 'gentlemen' worked in full harmony with the government. Under the absolute power of their own party, they could do whatever they wanted. There was no pandemic. Inflation and the exchange rate were not as dire as they are today. That is all they could do, even under all these favourable conditions. Now they come out again and say, 'Mayor Imamoglu owns our project'. Did you pay for the project out of your own pocket, and you call it 'our project'? My dear citizens; all these works, all these projects are done with your money, that is, with the money of every citizen living in this city. Projects have only one owner: The people. Temporary managers, whether elected or appointed, cannot own projects. These projects are not the property of anyone's father. Continuity is essential in the state. No matter who is on duty, the project belongs to the nation and the state. It's not what you do that matters, but how you do it".

“5 kilometres of rail system was built annually in Istanbul for 25 years”

Expressing the information that for the previous 25 years, the annual average of rail system construction in Istanbul was below 5 kilometres, Mayor İmamoğlu said, “We are building almost 2.5 times more than this every year. They falsely compare our 3.5 years with their 25 years and try to show what we have done as little. Moreover, while they are cutting our resources, trying to prevent us in every field, delaying our loans or not giving approval at all... However, they cannot prevent us with this, they cannot. Do not bother in vain. We do our job with the understanding of 'respect for people, care for the city' and being sensitive to all details. We are solving the problems of the city, which have not been resolved for a quarter of a century, and which have become deadlocks, one by one". 

He gave the good news of new projects

Saying, "Everything we put our hands on and create solutions for is very good," Mayor İmamoğlu said, "We still have a lot of work to do. We are working towards the target of a Carbon Neutral and Resistant City by 2050. We are developing alternative routes in order to reduce the use of private vehicles in urban transportation and to increase the use of the rail system and sea in public transportation. We are working to create environmentally friendly solutions with alternative transportation models in the transition between two sides. Among these works, there is also the 74.5 km long express metro HIZRAY, which will reduce the distance between Beylikdüzü - Sabiha Gökçen Airport to 55 minutes. We also have funicular works that provide integration between metro lines and sea transportation. We also started the designs of 3 new funicular lines. We have completed the designs of ITU-İstinye Funicular Line. We continue to work on the budget and finance. Thus, we are planning access to Beykoz and Çubuklu from ITU and ITU metro station by funicular and then by sea to Istinye. Preliminary studies of Yıldız-Ortaköy Funicular Line and Altunizade-Çengelköy Funicular Lines continue. We also start their designs. With the completion of these two funicular lines, we will connect Ortaköy and Çengelköy with sea transportation and provide a very pleasant public transportation crossing between the two sides. 

“I get my energy from the love of Istanbulites and the endless support of my Chairman”

Mayor İmamoğlu completed his speech, saying, today we are on the 100th day of the service marathon we call it "150 projects in 150 days" and we are leaving our 101st project behind":
“For the next 1.5 years, we will continue to work by increasing this pace and always raising our energy. I get this energy from the love and support of the people of Istanbul. I give my thanks to all of them. I get this energy from the endless support of my esteemed Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, who deemed me worthy of this task and has always guided and helped me from the first day. I thank him very much. I would like to thank everyone who played a role in the construction of the Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line, no matter more or less, who contributed. I wish that it would be for the good of the city and its people. Tomorrow we will celebrate the 99th anniversary of our Republic with an enthusiastic ceremony. I invite you all to the big celebration we will hold in Üsküdar Square. As we start counting down for its centennial, we see and feel the value of our Republic much better. We understand more and more the importance of the principles of the Republic and the great leader Gazi Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. We are excited and hopeful that we will carry our Republic much further with the strength we have gained from its first century. We can achieve anything; we can reach any goal we set before us. As long as we never compromise on being people of 'free mind, free knowledge, free conscience', as the great poet Tevfik Fikret, who comes to mind when Aşiyan is mentioned.

Transportation from Başakşehir to the Bosphorus by rail systems

Özgür Soy, General Manager of Metro Istanbul, informed that Metro Istanbul has reached a line length of 191.45 kilometres with the 800-meter-long F4 Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line and said, “We are happy that the rail system networks in Istanbul are gradually expanding. With the commissioning of our F4 line, we have reached a total of 17 lines and 195 stations. Thus, Istanbulites will be able to reach the Bosphorus by using the rail systems completely without entering the road traffic by taking the metro from Başakşehir. It will be possible to reach Üsküdar and Küçüksu by sea on the Bosphorus. We see a very good example of IMM's intermodal approach".

The Line will serve 3,000 passengers per hour
Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü-Aşiyan Funicular Line, completed by IMM in a period of 2 years, costed approximately 250 million Liras. The line, which will serve approximately 3 thousand passengers per hour, consists of 2 stations. The length of the line, whose total travel time is 2.5 minutes, is 0.8 kilometres. The line, which will be open to internet and telephone access, will be integrated with (M6) Levent-Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü Metro Line and Boğaziçi University/Hisarüstü Station and City Lines (Anadolu Hisarı, Küçüksu and Üsküdar Piers) and Aşiyan Station. In this way, it will create an alternative in terms of continental transitions.

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