The French engineer Eugène-Henri Gavand conceived the funicular after seeing the congestion on Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue in 1867. Sultan Abdülaziz granted him a concession on June 10, 1869. The Franco-Prussian War ruled out a French company, so Gavand formed the Metropolitan Railway of Constantinople in the United Kingdom. Construction began on July 30, 1871, and the line opened on January 17, 1875.
The brick-lined tunnel is 22 feet (6.7 m) wide and 16 feet (4.9 m) high. The infobox gives its length as 1,880 feet (573 m), while the technical description gives 1,820 feet (554.8 m). The upper station is 202 feet (61.55 m) above the lower one. Original trains were wooden and steam powered.
The line closed for renovation in 1968 and reopened electrified in 1971. A restoration in 2007 improved seismic resistance. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality owns it, and IETT operates it. The article gives no fares or hours.
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