The Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area Light Rail System is a long planned light rail/metro system for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area. The project was once again in the opening phases of construction and now, as of December 2009, seems to be postponed once again.[1]
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History
The first proposals for a tramway in the area were made by the Lebanese engineer George Franjieh in November 1892, about nine weeks after the inauguration of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. The plan called for a main line between southern and northeastern Jaffa, with spurs to the harbor and the eastern orchards. The plan was considered uneconomical and was shelved. A later plan called for a light railway from Jaffa to the nearby settlements of Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva and Wilhelma.[2]
A Decauville light railway was built in Jaffa and Tel Aviv in World War I, connecting the port with the Yarkon River. It was used for about a decade after the war, and dismantled at a later date.
A subway system was first planned in the mid-1960s, and in 1967 a station at the Shalom Meir Tower was inaugurated in the presence of then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. However, financial difficulties forced the abandonment of the project, and Shalom Meir remains the only subway station in Tel Aviv, disconnected from other transport links.
Back on track
In 2000, the plan for a subway was changed to one for light rail, and more plausible plans for a mass transit system in Tel Aviv were unveiled. Today, the first 22 kilometres (14 mi) Red Line has already been approved, with excavation due to begin in late 2009. The Red Line is expected to become operational in Q1 2014. In December 2006, the MTS group officially was awarded a BOT contract for the Red Line of the light rail, by which they are to build and operate the line for its first 32 years. MTS consists of Africa Israel, Siemens of Germany, the Egged Bus Cooperative, Chinese infrastructure company CCECC, the Portuguese infrastructure firm Soares da Costa, and the leading Dutch transportation company HTM.[3]
Some of the Tel Aviv Light Rail will be underground, so Tel Aviv may be viewed as the fifth city in the Middle East to boast a subway system. Haifa was first with the Carmelit in 1959, while Cairo's system opened in 1987 and Tehran Metro opened in 1999 and Dubai's metro was the fourth when it opened in 2009.
Planned lines
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Red Line
About 10 kilometres (6 mi) of the 22 kilometres (14 mi) Red Line is to be built underground, with the remaining overground segment constructed in as a light rail/tram. It is to have 33 stops, 10 of which would be underground, with an average distance of 500 metres between them. The average distance between the overground stops would be 1 km. The line would run from Bat Yam in the southwest, through Jaffa and central Tel Aviv, and carry on to Petah Tikva, through Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak. An interchange is planned for Tel Aviv Central railway station. It has been forecast that by 2020, 100 million people would be using this line annually.
Stations (underground in italics): Nissenbaum, HaAmal, Kaf Tet BeNovember, Yoseftal, Bar Ilan, Balfour, Jabotinsky, Rothschild, HaAztmaut, Machrozet, HaBaashat, Issakov, Erlich, Ben Tzvi, Salame, Elifelet, Allenby, Carlebach, Yehudit, Shaul HaMelech, Arlozorov, Abba Hillel, Bialik, Ben Gurion, Aharonowitz. From Aharonowitz, one branch continues to Shenkar, Rabin, Beilinson, Dankner, Orlov, Pinsker, Petah Tikva Central Bus Station (Terminal); another continues to Em HaMoshavot and the Kiryat Aryeh Maintenance Depot.
Green Line
The second or Green Line, in the approval phase, is a 14 kilometres (9 mi) line that would run from the west of Rishon LeZion northwards through Holon to central Tel Aviv. Only its Tel Aviv segment would be underground. Expected annual passenger forecast is 50 million by 2020. A proposed extension of the line would run underground through central Tel Aviv's Ibn Gabirol Street to the northern neighbourhoods and the Yarkon River.
Stations (underground in italics): Carlebach, HaRakevet, Levinsky, Har Tzion, Kibbutz Galuyot, Abu Kabir, Gitit, Tzomet Holon, Kugel, Sokolov. From Sokolov, one branch continues to HaHistadrut, Golda Meir, Barkat, Menachem Begin, Moshe Dayan, Holon Darom, Kenyon HaZahav, Rishon LeZion; another continues to Krause, Serlin, Geulim, Betzalel, HaMelacha, Mifratz Shlomo, HaMerkava, and the Holon Maintenance Depot.
Yellow Line
The third, or Yellow Line is in the planning phases. It would be a mostly overground tram line, 24 kilometres (15 mi) in length, connecting Kfar Sava and Tel Aviv via Ra'anana, Herzliya and Ramat HaSharon. A possible extension of this line would run alongside the coastline of Tel Aviv, as an underground system, and connect to the Red Line in the Rothschild Boulevard area.
Purple Line
The fourth, or Purple Line, also in the planning phase, is envisaged as a 12 kilometres (7 mi) line from Tel Aviv to Kiryat Ono. Most of it would be overground.
See also
References
External links
- NTA (in Hebrew) - Tel Aviv Subway developer, builder and operator.
- NTA (in English)
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