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Rail Tunnel Linking Turkey to Europe Officially Opens

A 10 mile tunnel that runs under the Bosphorus Strait has officially opened, fulfilling a Turkish ambition laid out 150 years ago by a Turkish sultan.

At 55 meters deep, Turkish officials are saying that it is the deepest underground tunnel in the world. Of the 10 mile length, 1mile runs underneath the Bosphorus, which divides the Turkish city of Istanbul and connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

The opening ceremony took place on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the modern Turkish state, which was created after World War I out of the ashes of the Ottoman empire by Kemal Ataturk. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was joined by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Japan contributed significantly to the building and financing of the project, which began in 2005 and has cost over $3 billion. The project was meant to be completed in 2009, but was met with delays as construction crews came across archaeological finds while they dug up the tunnel.

The idea of an underwater tunnel linking the two sides was first suggested by Ottoman sultan Abdülmejid in 1860.

Erdogan's government hopes that the rail system, when complete, will ferry over 1 million people a day from one end of the city to the other in four minutes. Officials hope that this will ease some of the traffic congestion that plagues Istanbul, especially on the two trans-continental bridges that link the city. The rail line opened today will eventually be served by over 63 kilometers of rail lines from Istanbul's suburbs.

A major concern has been the ability for the tunnel to withstand earthquakes such as ones that have rocked Turkey in the past. The government has been quick to claim that the underwater section can sustain magnitude 9.0 earthquakes, going so far as to say that it would be the safest place to be in Istanbul.