NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit today published pre-qualification (PQ) Infra 2 tenders for the Tel Aviv Metropolitan area Metro worth an overall NIS 30 billion.
In June NTA announced that 20 international and Israeli consortia, encompassing 33 companies, filed requests to bid in the PQ Infra 1 tenders, which are worth about NIS 65 billion.
While Infra 1 mainly includes civil infrastructure works like tunnelling, Infra 2 deals with trains, carriages, signalling systems, electricity and operating the system.
NTA aims to operate autonomous trains, so the Metro will be designed to operate fully automatically, using GOA4 technology. The system will enable smart real-time control and monitoring, high operational precision, and an advanced level of safety. The signaling, electrification, communications, and safety systems will be connected to a single system that will enable continuous, reliable, and safe operation of the network. This is to allow a train every 90 seconds and will let the system transport 2 million passengers a day.
However, the desire to implement the most advanced technology may also restrict the tender to the very few international players that know how to provide such trains. NTA is aware of this and is currently working to increase the number of potential bidders as much as possible. In addition, the use of autonomous trains may make it a little easier for politicians to approve its operation, even on Shabbat.
"Looking for the best partners"
In about a year the results of the tender itself will be announced - with one group expected to win the M1 line (which will connect the northern and southern cities in the Tel Aviv Metropolitan region) and another group to win the M2 line (which will run from Tel Aviv eastwards) and the M3 line (which will run through, among other locations, Herzliya Pituah, West Ramat Hasharon, Ramat HaChayal and Kiryat Atidim, Kiryat Aryeh and Holon East).
While preliminary Metro infrastructure work can already be seenthe first works on Infra 1 and 2 will only be seen towards the end of 2028 and the beginning of 2029.
NTA CEO Itamar Ben-Meir said, "The Metro is one of the most significant and complex infrastructure projects in the world today, and therefore we are looking for the best partners to take participate in it. Over the past year, we have met with leading companies from around the world that have expressed interest in the project, and we expect to see the best and most experienced of them join us. Our goal is clear: to bring to Israel an advanced, reliable and safe Metro system of the highest standards in the world, and to create a real transport legacy for future generations."
Minister of Transport director general Moshe Ben-Zaken added, "We will bring to Israel the most advanced transport systems in the world and infrastructure to operate an innovative, safe and reliable Metro network. The Ministry of Transport, together with NTA and all partner entities, continues to promote the national project that will change the face of transport, strengthen the economy and provide the public with an advanced transport solution for the coming decades."
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 24, 2026.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2026.