The National Fire and Rescue Authority has extended the permit for operating the high-speed railway route from Jerusalem to Ben Gurion Airport by one year. The permit is still temporary, because Israel Railways must still install cameras in the tunnels on the route and provide confirmation that the air blowers have been adjusted to the standard.
A short time ago, Fire and Rescue Authority Jerusalem district commander Moshe Suissa signed a temporary one-year permit for operating the Jerusalem-Ben Gurion Airport high-speed railway line. The Fire and Rescue Authority stated, "The permit was granted after inspections were conducted and after receiving approvals and documents from Israel Railways, following a report by Israel Railways that the defects found in the most recent inspection had been fully corrected."
The Authority added, "The railway line will use electric trains exclusively, without connecting a diesel locomotive. Israel Railways is responsible for regularly maintaining the safety systems on the route and reporting any malfunction in them to the Fire and Rescue Authority."
The launching of the high-speed railway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which at this stage goes only as far as Ben Gurion Airport, was accompanied by many difficulties. Israel Police and the Fire and Rescue Authority granted the permits to operate it only two days before it was opened for running in. The permit from the Fire and Rescue Authority was valid for only one month, and was subject to completion of the necessary repairs, which have been fully completed.
Since the high-speed railway began operating, a considerable number of malfunctions have occurred in which movement of the trains was halted for several hours each time. A week ago, a train from Ben Gurion Airport on the way to Jerusalem with 150 passengers became stuck in one of the tunnels. The train was rescued after being hooked up to a stand-by locomotive, with the passengers being returned to the station from where they left after two hours.
The high-speed railway was opened to passengers a month ago. The route was designed to go between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem in only 29 minutes, starting before the Sukkot holiday. It opened on the date announced by Minister of Transport Yisrael Katz, but only as far at Ben Gurion Airport, because infrastructure work on the section of the route between Ben Gurion Airport and the Tel Aviv Hagana railway station was not completed.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 25, 2018
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