Israel Railways has published a tender for the Rishon LeZion - Tel Aviv line. The 3-km Rishonim Line will go through the Gan Ha’Vradim junction south of Rishon LeZion and east of Be’er Yaakov, which is on the existing Rehovot - Tel Aviv line. The project will cost NIS 170 million. Work is due to start in March and be completed in October 2003.
700,000 passengers a year are expected to use the train.
Israel Railways’ plan for Rishon LeZion includes another, bigger project: the Rishon LeZion West Line, which will start at the Ayalon Darom highway. The 15-km line will run from the Hagana Station to Rishon LeZion West. The project is in its infancy, and preliminary development work started only recently. The line will be completed towards 2006.
Rishon LeZion is Israel’s fourth biggest city, with 216,000 inhabitants. It was founded in 1882, but has not yet been linked to a railway.
Israel Railways general manager Yossi Snir told “Globes”: “The Rishonim Line will be an important axis in the transport network in the area. It takes over an hour and a half to get from Rishon LeZion to Tel Aviv by car in the morning. The traffic load on the roads will undoubtedly go down considerably on this axis.”
Published by Israel's Business Arena on 22 January, 2002