Originally published on October 29, 2013 <br /><br />Turkey has opened the Marmaray tunnel, a 3-billion-euro underwater rail tunnel under the Bosphorus Strait that connects Europe and Asia, the two continents spanned by Turkey. <br /><br />The opening of the tunnel coincides with the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Turkish Republic and was presided over by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. <br /><br />The tunnel is 13.6 km long and is buried 60 m beneath the seabed of the Bosphorus Strait, setting a world record for the deepest tunnel, according to Turkish government officials.<br /><br />It is part of a 76 km underground railway project known as the Marmaray line. The tunnel allows access to both the Asian and European sides of the city via the metro system.<br /><br />The railway tunnel took nine years to build. In the first phase of the project, steel-lined pre-cast concrete sections were laid and buried into a trench dug into the sea bed. Then 12.2 km of tunnel was bored into the nearby landmass to make a passage through the strait. <br /><br />Around 40,000 objects, including a graveyard of Byzantine ships, were unearthed while digging the underwater trenches.<br /><br />Japan's Bank for International Cooperation contributed 735 million euros to finance the project. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was also present at the official opening of the tunnel.<br /><br />The tunnel was first conceived of more than 150 years ago by Ottoman sultan Abdoul Medjid. Its construction finally began in 2004 under Erdogan, then the mayor of Istanbul.<br /><br />--------------------------------------------------------<br /><br />TomoNews is your daily source for top animated news. We've combined animation and video footage with a snarky personality to bring you the biggest and best stories from around the world.<br /><br />For news that's fun and never boring, visit our channel:<br />https://www.youtube.com/user/TomoNewsUS<br /><br />Subscribe to stay updated on all the top stories:<br />http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=TomoNewsUS<br /><br />Stay connected with us here:<br />Faceb
