The Ministry of Transport is considering construction of a railway line to Nazareth and Migdal Ha’Emek as part of the Jezreel Valley Railway.
Minister of Transport Meir Sheetrit recently instructed the director general of his ministry to examine the economic viability of connecting Nazareth and Migdal Ha’Emek to a railway line.
The Jezreel Valley Railway project includes a six-kilometer double track from Haifa to Nesher, and a single line from Nesher to Beit Shean. The line will have five stops: Nesher, Kfar Yehoshua, Kfar Baruch, Afula, and Beit Shean.
Israel Railways plans to begin publishing tenders for work on the line in 2006, and work is expected to take until late 2008. Travel time from Haifa to Beit Shean is expected to be 46 minutes. Sheetrit asked that expanding the project to include connections to Nazareth and Migdal Ha’Emek be considered.
Sheetrit said that railway infrastructure for the Galilee and Negev was very important in order to shorten distances between large cities and outlying areas. He added that connecting towns like Nazareth and Migdal Ha’Emek to a national railway line would significantly shorten travel time to the central region.
Sheetrit’s position contradicts that of the Ministries of Finance and Transport, which wish to delay construction of an Acre-Carmiel line and the Jezreel Valley line. Both lines have little economic viability. A June 2005 decision said that the projects should be suspended until US company Parsons Brinckerhoff completes its report on the project.
Under Israel Railways’ original timetable, construction was to have started in the first quarter of 2005, and end in late 2007. The initial cost of the project was estimated at NIS 984 million.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 4, 2005