The National Council for Planning and Building of National Infrastructures, headed by Avigdor Yitzhaki, yesterday decided to transfer for comments and objections, the plan to build a fourth railway line along the Nahal Ayalon channel in Tel Aviv. To allow for construction of the railway line, the council also approved diverting the Ayalon stream.
The plan for the fourth railway line, which will cost NIS 5 billion, was first announced in 2017. It will take at least another ten years to complete construction of a fourth railway track between the Hagana railway station in southern Tel Aviv and the Tel Aviv University railway station. The new track is needed to handle Israel's growing railway traffic, especially around Tel Aviv.
As reported last week in "Globes," the fourth railway track will be elevated in order to preserve the channel for receiving the surface runoff of the neighborhoods along the track, and for use in emergencies.
At present 75% of the 40 million passengers carried by Israel Railways annually and 85% during rush hours, travel along the Ayalon section of the railway in Tel Aviv. The route serves all railway lines from north and south as well as eastwards to Modi'in and Jerusalem. Thus the Ayalon section of the railway in Tel Aviv is already a bottleneck and the number of trains is expected to double over the next 10 years.
At present, 28 trains can travel along the three tracks each hour. A fourth track together with a new signaling system would raise the number of trains to 40 per hour.
Transportation experts warn that given the rapid increase in the number of railway users, the fourth track in the Ayalon channel would not be enough and can only be a short-term solution. They say that substantial progress in Israel Railways' development plans, such as the high-speed train to Jerusalem, doubling the Tel Aviv-Haifa line, doubling the line to Beer Sheva, and other lines in the advanced planning and implementation stages, are liable to create a railway traffic jam in the Ayalon channel.
Israel Railways strategic plan for 2040 is calling for two underground lines along the Ayalon channel as part of a 26-kilometer tunneling project between Shefayim and Ben Gurion Airport.
To divert the Ayalon, the stream will be diverted to a pool in empty quarries, some of which are in Natuf, Modi'in, and on the Nesher site. Water will later be pooled in Ariel Sharon Park, with shallow flooding of areas in the northern part of the Mikve Israel agricultural school. At the same time, an underground pipe with a 10-meter diameter will be laid underneath Jaffa leading to the sea using direct push technology.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 27, 2016
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