Israel’s National Infrastructures Committee has approved an outline plan to put Haifa’s existing railway lines underground. Under the plan, the city’s two existing railway tracks and two more tracks will be put into a tunnel nine kilometers long between Hof Hacarmel station in the south and the Paz Bridge in the east of the city.
Two of the tracks will be part of the fast rail link to Tel Aviv on which trains will travel at 250 kilometers per hour and the other two tracks will serve the suburban service with trains traveling up to 160 kilometers per hour. Haifa Central station will be closed with a station at Bat Galim serving the suburban line.
The Haifa Municipality has come under fire in recent years for not pushing hard enough for such new infrastructure plans. Haifa Mayor Einat Kalisch-Rotem said, "Over the past two years when I’ve sat on planning committees, we have not heard any recognition of Haifa’s status. Something has changed and now everyone understands that Haifa needs to be the metropolitan region of the north."
But despite her optimism and the approval of the outline plan for Haifa’s railway tunnels, it remains unclear where the funding for the project will come from.
In addition to improving public transport in the city, moving the existing railway lines into tunnels will free up large amounts of land and allow extensive construction in the port area. Kalisch-Rotem stresses that she has solved the problem of financing this colossal project. "For a long time, we have been working with the national council in order to change and add housing to the port area and develop the seafront. In practice that was what changed the rules of the game."
"We understand the importance of TAMA 13/A and not building near the sea but it is not the Torah from Sinai. From that moment things began to move. Ultimately, we mobilized the Israel Port Authority and Israel Land Authority and had not been ready to listen at the start, and we added 7,000 housing units on the sea from Bat Galim to east of the Hatil building. I don’t think there is anybody in Israel that wouldn’t want to live there."
So where will the NIS 13 billion come from for this project? Haifa city engineer Ariel Waterman says that the budget must come from the state. "We have shown the potential from added construction including on state land. I think that most of the money must come from the state budget because it’s a project that shortens the distances between metropolitan regions, creates job opportunities and encourages urban renewal. Outstanding proof of this is that the Ministry of Finance also supports this alternative and that is not trivial.
However, the Ministry of Finance Budget Division is not prepared to commit to paying for the project and says it is too early for such a decision and that financing will be decided after discussions with the relevant government authorities and Haifa Municipality.
Waterman estimates that the project will be built between 2030 and 2040.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on December 23, 2021.
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