ISRAEL: Main construction works for the Tel Aviv light rail Purple Line are expected to begin shortly, after the signing of a financing agreement by project promoter NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit Systems, HSBC and Bank Leumi Le Israel.
The line is to be built by a joint venture of local construction company Shafir and Spanish rolling stock, signalling, power and communications supplier CAF under a design, build and finance PPP concession which includes 25 years of maintenance. Under the agreement signed on July 4, the two banks are to provide NTA with €1bn of financing.
The 29 km line with 46 stops is now expected to open during 2027. It will start at the Terminal 2000 complex next to Israel Railways’s Savidor station, and run on-street in a loop around the western side of the city centre. It will then run east to the Sheba Medical Centre, where it will split into two branches: the northern branch will serve Kiryat Ono and terminate at Bar Ilan University, while the southern branch will run through Tel Hashomer and Yehud-Monoson to Hataiasim.
Services would run every 4 min, with ridership predicted at 256 000 passengers/day.
- A full description of the development of the Tel Aviv light rail network appeared in the February 2022 issue of Railway Gazette International, which is available to subscribers in the digital magazine archive.
