Three international companies as part of consortia with Israeli companies have submitted bids for Tel Aviv light rail tenders. The tenders are for tunneling using Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) methods and building underground stations on the Red Line. The contractor will be chosen at the start of next year and work will immediately get underway. Those submitting bids were by Shapir Engineering and Italian company Ghella, Shikun u'Binui Holdings Ltd. (TASE: SKBN) unit Solel Boneh and Chinese company CTG, and Africa-Israel Investments Ltd. (TASE:AFIL) unit Danya Cebus Ltd. (TASE: DNYA) and French company VINCI. RELATED ARTICLES NTA seeks NIS 860m tender exemption for PB 5 cos submit bids in TA light rail tender NTA promises Tel Aviv light rail by 2021 The work will cost between NIS 3 and 5 billion including digging two 8 kilometer long tunnels that will constitute the main part of the underground section of the Red Line. The underground section will run from the Geha Interchange at the ewdge of Petah Tikva and beneath Jabotinski Road in Bnei Brak and Ramat Gan and then beneath Begin Road in Tel Aviv and through to Neve Tzedek near Jaffa. In this tunnel section there will be eight underground stations and 22 security escape tunnels. TBMs are 150 meters long and equipped with a 7-14 meter diameter drilling head and weigh as much as 4,000 tons. The Red Line is the first and major line of the Tel Aviv light rail. It will be 24 kilometers long with a total of 11 kilometers in tunnels. Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 2, 2014 © Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014
