In 1867 a French engineer, Eugène-Henri Gavand, came to Constantinople as a tourist.[3] During his visit, he was taken aback at the number of people travelling on Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue. Gavand thought of a method to connect these two areas, and came up with building a funicular railway that would ascend and descend the hill. Gavand went back to France shortly after to prepare his project. He returned to Constantinople in February 1868 to present his project to the Sublime Porte. The railway would run from beginning of Yüksek Kaldırım Avenue in Pera to Yenicami street and close to the Galata Bridge in Galata. On 10 June 1869 Sultan Abdülaziz granted Gavand with a concession to build the railway.

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