The recently completed Beer Sheva North - Ben-Gurion University Train Station and the Mexico Bridge connecting the station to the university will be dedicated on Wednesday, which is Ben-Gurion Day.
The dedication ceremony, to be held in the presence of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Minister of Transportation Meir Sheetrit, Beer-Sheva Mayor Yaacov Terner, Israel Railways chairman Moshe Leon and others, is part of a series of events commemorating the death of Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion.
Designed by Danny Lazar, the station and bridge create a dramatic new gateway to the university and the city of Beer-Sheva. The 800 sq. meter station has state-of-the-art specifications to allow for the introduction of a fast train in 2007 and the anticipated growth of a number of commuter lines in the region. The new hub includes park-and-ride facilities, commercial space and easy transportation access to the city. Pedestrians may take advantage of the covered walkway that leads to the main road or continue on the 160-meter Mexico Bridge that brings them directly to the University campus. The walkway spans the 380 meter distance, welcoming visitors into the city.
Lazer said the project offered him a unique opportunity "to transform the northern entrance to the city - to create symbolic structures that would carry Beer-Sheva into the future - connecting it to the dynamic future of science and technology."
The railway station was built through the combined initiative of Israel Railways, the Beer-Sheva Foundation and Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, supported by a donation by Larry Goodman of Chicago. The Mexico Bridge was built with the support of BGU's Mexican Associates, led by Ing. Pedro Dondisch.
The station will be connected by an underground passageway to the adjoining neighborhood of Ramot and to the planned Advanced Technologies Park, adjacent to the university. The project is intended to be the catalyst to jump-start the economic and urban development of Beer-Sheva in general and the expansion of the National Institute for Biotechnology in the Negev as well as the development of the Advanced Technologies Park in particular.
BGU president Prof. Avishay Braverman said, "The train is the link that will create a new high-tech center in the desert. We can become Israel's Silicon Valley of the future. The industrial park provides a strategic long-term employment solution to the needs of the Negev and the city of Beer-Sheva that genuinely needs investments, mainly in the fields of advanced industry, in order to enable the development of the area."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on Thursday, December 01, 2005