ISRAEL: The Knesset voted to approve the bill authorising the Tel Aviv metro project on July 25, and the Ministry of Transport has given Jerusalem municipality approval to begin planning a metro.
The 150bn shekel Tel Aviv project comprises three lines totalling 150 route-km with 109 stations. The entirely underground network would serve 24 local authorities and is designed to carry up to 2 million passengers each day.
Line M1 would run north-south with branches at each end. Line M2 would link the city centre to Peta Tikva in the east, and Line M3 would run tangentially from north to south through the eastern suburbs.
The metro is an addition to the developing light rail network. The 23 km light rail Red Line opened in August 2023, and China State Construction Engineering Corp is building the 39 km Green Line with 63 stops and the 27 km Purple Line with 45 stops.
Jerusalem metro planning to begin
At the start of July, the Ministry of Transport gave Jerusalem municipality the go-ahead to begin drawing up plans for a metro. The existing light rail network is predicted to be at capacity as soon as 2030, and the population is expected to double to around 2 million by 2050.
Initial planning by the Hebrew University five years ago envisaged up to three metro lines, at grade and in tunnels up to 40 m deep to cope with hilly terrain.
The ministry and the municipality are now preparing a tender for the professional design of a masterplan that could see construction begin in 2040-50.
- In June the Jerusalem municipality announced that two Red Line extensions would open by the end of November, bringing light rail services north to Neve Ya’akov and west to Hadassah Hospital. Opening has been delayed whilst safety and electrical issues are resolved.
