The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line will begin operating in 2004. A high speed railway wil also be built on the route. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon still has to approve the plan.
Minister of Transport Ephraim Sneh said today he had decided to upgrade the old Tel Aviv-Jerusalem railway, and promote the construction of the A1 alternative – the high-speed line – on the Tel Aviv-Ben Gurion Airport-Modi’in-Jerusalem route. Sneh said that both solutions were necessary because the A1 line would take 8-10 years to construct, while upgrading the existing line would provide a solution sooner.
The cost of upgrading the old line is $85 million, and the line may become operational in two and a half years. The upgraded line will go through Nahal Soreq on the Beit Shemesh-Ramleh-Lod axis.
Sneh’s decision put an end to the protracted dispute between Israel Railway Authority’s management and the Ministry of Finance, which support the A1 line, and the Jerusalem municipality, which is in favor of another alternative, G1, on the Beit Shemesh-Jerusalem route. Former Minister of Finance Avraham Shochat also supported the A1 alternative, which has a price tag of NIS 2.5 billion. Sneh’s decision must be approved by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
The A1 alternative requires the construction of a new 56 km. railway. Travel time will be only 28 minutes. The double railway will accommodate four trains in each direction at a maximum speed of 160 km. per hour.
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 12 June, 2001