The cabinet today approved a proposal by acting Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Ehud Olmert to lay a railway line between Ofakim and Beerseva. The line is part of the national plan for a railway connection between Ashkelon and Beersheva.
When the route is complete, a continuous railway line will connect Beersheva, Ofakim, Netivot, Sderot, and Ashkelon with the central region and northern Israel. The new line will be 63 kilometers long, including upgrading of 11 kilometers of existing track and 52 kilometers of new track. The line has been divided into three sections, which will be worked on simultaneously.
In September 2005, the national infrastructures committee approved the section between Ashkelon and Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, and the cabinet approved it in December. The committee approved the Ofakim-Beersheva section in November 2005, and the cabinet approved it today.
The committee will approve the third section, which connects Yad Mordechai with Ofakim, in the first quarter of this year, and it will then be submitted for cabinet approval.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on January 16, 2006