investors that were building the Baghdad Railway at the time. Haydarpaşa was an important link in the railway chain of the Kaiser's Berlin-to-Baghdad railway scheme, part of the German Empire's strategic "Drang nach Osten" ("Drive to the East") during the later 19th century. The station was put into service on August 19, 1908 and formally inaugurated on November 4, 1909.The building was built on land reclaimed from the sea and is therefore surrounded by water on three sides, a unique feature for a railway station. The Anatolia-Baghdad Corporation built between 1906 and 1908 the Teutonic pseudo-castle railway station, a gift to the Sultan from Kaiser Wilhelm II. Its foundation is 1,100 wooden piles, each 21 meters long, driven into the mushy shore by steam hammer. The station building has a very distinctive style, definitely standing out in Istanbul. Thanks to its location, it has been very well preserved, even restored following the damages caused by a burning tanker ship in 1979. The building is best seen from the sea, by taking a ferryboat that calls just in front of the station to cross the Bosphorus.