New NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System CEO Itamar Ben Meir believes that the Tel Aviv light rail Green Line, will open later than the already postponed date of the end of 2028. He was speaking at an event to mark the breaching of the Green Line tunnel at the Rabin Square station. Ben Meir said that the latest delay is due to the war.
The delay will need confirmation by the project's steering committee, which comprises representatives from the Ministry of Transport and Ministry of Finance and has yet to confirm the previous delay until the end of 2028. Ben Meir succeeded Haim Glick as NTA CEO several weeks ago.
After the outbreak of the war the opening date for the Green Line was put back to the end of 2028 due to the absence of Palestinian construction and infrastructure workers and difficulties in bringing in foreign workers from China due to Ministry of Foreign Affairs restrictions.
Government ministries and NTA will now need to consider a gradual opening of the line. Such an option was already recommended about two years ago by a company appointed by the government to monitor and audit the project. If the move goes ahead, the line will be opened in two stages, with the southern stretch from Rishon Lezion to south Tel Aviv opening first, while the section hit by delays due to complex tunneling work would be opened at a later stage. This suits the fact that while the line will extend over 39 kilometers, the southern section will have high demand.
The biggest, most complex and expensive project undertaken in Israel
The huge tunnel boring machine (TBM) is boring under Ibn Gvirol Street from Nordau Station in the north via Arlozorov Station box, and has now reached Rabin Square Station. The machine digging the parallel tunnel will breach Rabin Square Station in the coming month.
According to the project's officials, the breach into Rabin Square Station was supposed to take place earlier this year, but due to the war, it was postponed. The tunnel in Tel Aviv is a double tunnel and is 4.5 kilometers long from Nordau Station in the north of the city to Har Zion Boulevard in the south. The entire line will travel from Herzliya in the north on an overhead route to Tel Aviv, move underground through to south Tel Aviv and then proceed further south of to Rishon Lezion. The almost 40 kilometer line is the largest, most complex and expensive project ever carried in Israel although it will lose this title to the Metro project.
The first part of the Green Line project called Infra 1 includes digging the tunnels, building bridges and groundwork for the over-ground section. The second part called Infra 2 involves laying the tracks, installing systems and checking the line. Under the agreement with the franchisee, which is implementing Infra 2 - a consortium of Alstom, Dan and Electra - the line was supposed to open in mid-2028, three years after the original planned opening in 2025. Among the reasons for the delay was difficulties in vacating Kfar Shalem due to opposition from Minister of Transport Miri Regev, the difficulty in obtaining international financing due to the political and security instability in Israel and many delays in Infra 1 due to protests by local authorities before the recent elections.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on October 14, 2024.
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