Israel Railways has announced that it intends to publish a tender for building the second section of the fast rail link between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The announcement, at a meeting of the "approving body" of the National Planning and Building Council, led to a stormy confrontation between the Israel Railways representatives and representatives of environmental organizations, which demand that no tender should be published until the line has been planned in detail.
The "approving body" was set up specially to deal with the planning process for the fast rail link,. A month ago, the government approved its construction and budgeted NIS 6.4 billion for it.
The environmentalists say that publication of a tender now is intended to establish facts on the ground before a decision has officially been made whether the section of track through Nahal Yitle in the Judean Mountains should be by tunnel, as the environmentalists want; or by bridge, as Israel Railways intends.
The lack of decision on this point is delaying work on the third stage of the railway line, between Sha'ar Hagai and Emek Ha'arazim. Shafir Civil and Marine Engineering Ltd. won the NIS 1.6 billion tender for this work in late 2007.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes.co.il - on January 12, 2009
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