NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. has published the prequalification (PQ) tender for the digging of the subway tunnels and stations of the Tel Aviv light rail's Red Line. The estimated cost of the work is NIS 4-5 billion, making this the largest tender of the project.
The eight-kilometers tunnels will be dug with tunnel boring machines (TBM) from Geha Junction on Road 4 at the entrance to Petah Tikva, along Jabotinsky Street in Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan and Menachem Begin Road in Tel Aviv to the old Turkish rail lines. Eight TBMs will be specially imported for the project, and will begin digging from three shafts that have been dug at the Red Line's terminal at Em Hamoshava in Petah Tikva, at Herzl Street in Tel Aviv, and at Galei Gil. NTA says that it decided to consolidate the tenders to streamline the work, shorten it, and reduce risks.
Last week, NTA published the prequalifying conditions for digging the 3.5-kilometer tunnel between Em Hamoshava and Gena Junction in Petah Tikva. This tunnel will be dug by the New Austrian Tunneling method (NATM). NTA also published a NIS 4 billion tender for the trains' signaling and control systems.
The winner of the TBM tender will be chosen in the third quarter of 2013, and work is due to begin immediately afterwards.
NTA chairman Michael Ratzon said, "In the 18 months since NTA received responsibility for the project from the government, unprecedented change has been felt on the ground. Our target is to publish all the construction tenders this year, and we will meet it."
NTA CEO Itzhak Zuchman said, "Metropolitan Tel Aviv needs the light rail like oxygen to breath. We're doing everything so that the tractors, bulldozers, tunnel boring machines, and the other equipment will be in place in 2013."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on July 4, 2012
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