ISRAEL’S TRANSPORT ministry has asked Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to define as a project of national importance a US$465m plan to quadruple the Ayalon Corridor cross-city rail link through Tel Aviv.The third track on the 22?km route between University and Lod is due to enter service on January 1, adding welcome capacity for ISR to step up frequencies on the suburban routes north to Raanana, east to Kfar-Sava and south to Rishon-le-Zion, Ashdod and Ashkelon.Transport Ministry General Manager Gideon Siterman says projected traffic growth will soon require the addition of a fourth track through the narrow corridor, which the railway shares with a major road. This will necessitate the realignment of Ayalon creek, including the construction of a 5?km channel to divert flood water into the sea near Yafo.? Visiting construction works on the ’A1’ direct line to Jerusalem, ISR General Manager Ofer Linchevsky confirmed that the first section from Ben Gurion airport to Paatei Modi’in will open in September 2007, with Modi’in Central station due to see trains by the end of the year. He anticipates that the Tel Aviv - Modi’in - Jerusalem route will be completed and electrified by 2011.

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