Tel Aviv Light Rail

The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area Light Rail System is a long planned light rail/metro system for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, Israel's largest. The project is in the opening phases of construction.

History

A subway system was first planned in the mid-1960s, and in 1967 a station at the Shalom Meir Tower was inaugurated in the presence of then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. However, financial difficulties forced the abandonment of the project, and Shalom Meir remains the only subway station in Tel Aviv, disconnected from other transport links.

Back on track

In 2000, the plan for a subway was changed to one for light rail, and the more plausible plans for a mass transit system in Tel Aviv were unveiled. Today, the first convert|22|km|mi|0 Red Line has already been approved, with excavation due to begin in late 2008-2009. It is expected to become operative in Q1 2014. In December 2006, MTS officially was awarded a BOT contract for the Red Line of the light rail, by which they are to build and operate the line for its first 32 years. The MTS group consists of Africa Israel, Siemens of Germany, the Egged Bus Cooperative, CCECC - a Chinese infrastructure company, the Portuguese infrastructure firm Soares da Costa, and the leading Dutch transportation company HTM.Cite journal|title=6: Light Rapid Transit|issue=80|journal=HaRakevet|pages=4|issn=0964-8763|year=2008|month=March]

Some of the Tel Aviv Light Rail will be underground, so Tel Aviv may be viewed as the fourth city in the Middle East to boast a subway system. Haifa was first with the Carmelit in 1959, while Cairo's system opened in 1987 and Tehran Metro opened in 1999. Dubai's planned subway system is expected to be the fourth when it opens in 2009.

Planned lines

Red Line

About convert|10|km|mi|0 of the convert|22|km|mi|0 Red Line is to be built underground, with the remaining overground segment constructed in a light rail/tram format. It is to have 33 stops, 10 of which would be underground, with an average distance of 500 metres between them. The average distance between the overground stops would be 1km. The line would run from Bat Yam in the southwest, through Jaffa and central Tel Aviv, and carry on to Petah Tikva, through Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak. An interchange is planned for Tel Aviv Central railway station. It has been forecast that by 2020, 100 million people would be using this line annually.

Stations (underground in "italics"): Nissenbaum, HaAmal, Kaf Tet BeNovember, Yoseftal, Bar Ilan, Balfour, Jabotinsky, Rothschild, HaAztmaut, Machrozet, HaBaashat, Issakov, Erlich, Ben Tzvi, Salame, Elifelet, "Allenby", "Carlebach", "Yehudit", "Shaul HaMelech", "Arlozorov", "Abba Hillel", "Bialik", "Ben Gurion", "Aharonowitz". From Aharonowitz, one branch continues to Shenkar, Rabin, Beilinson, Dankner, Orlov, Pinsker, Petah Tikva Central Bus Station (Terminal); another continues to "Em HaMoshavot" and the Kiryat Aryeh Maintenance Depot.

Green Line

The second or Green Line, in the approval phase, is a convert|14|km|mi|0 line that would run from the west of Rishon LeZion northwards through Holon to central Tel Aviv. Only its Tel Aviv segment would be underground. Expected annual passenger forecast is 50 million by 2020. A proposed extension of the line would run underground through central Tel Aviv's Ibn Gabirol Street to the northern neighbourhoods and the Yarkon River.

Stations (underground in "italics"): "Carlebach", HaRakevet, Levinsky, Har Tzion, Kibbutz Galuyot, Abu Kabir, Gitit, Tzomet Holon, Kugel, Sokolov. From Sokolov, one branch continues to HaHistadrut, Golda Meir, Barkat, Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, Holon Darom, Kenyon HaZahav, Rishon LeZion; another continues to Krause, Serlin, Geulim, Betzalel, HaMelacha, Mifratz Shlomo, HaMerkava, and the Holon Maintenance Depot.

Yellow Line

The third, or Yellow Line is in the planning phases. It would be a mostly overground tram line, convert|24|km|mi|0 in length, connecting Kfar Saba and Tel Aviv via Ra'anana, Herzliya and Ramat HaSharon. A possible extension of this line would run alongside the coastline of Tel Aviv, as an underground system, and connect to the Red Line in the Rothschild Boulevard area.

Purple Line

The fourth, or Purple Line, also in the planning phase, is envisaged as a convert|12|km|mi|0 line from Tel Aviv to Kiryat Ono. Most of it would be overground.

ee also

* Carmelit
* Jerusalem Light Rail
* List of rapid transit systems

References

External links

* [http://www.nta.org.il NTA (in Hebrew)] - Tel Aviv Subway developer, builder and operator.
* [http://www.nta.co.il/site/en/homepage.asp NTA (in English)]