Still no launch date for Tel Aviv light rail

At the beginning of July, residents of Greater Tel Aviv received encouraging news that the opening of the Tel Aviv light rail red line is fast approaching, and will take place later this month. Since then, two weeks have passed, and there is still no official launch date.

The reason for the early celebrations was that the advertisement, also in ‘Globes’, was based on a letter of intent to issue a permit in principle by the German inspection company, which had been contracted to ensure there were no safety problems in the line. operations. But since then no final approval has been reached.

Approval is required due to a fault found in the communication between the signaling system and the rest of the light rail systems, which was triggering the emergency brakes. Initially, the Department of Transportation required the line to open without false stops, but now they are willing to accept stops that do not pose a safety risk.

The most recent test performed on trains concerns how strong the vibration can be during emergency braking and whether it can cause injuries. The NTA, in charge of the project, forwarded the results to the German inspection company, and claimed that the light rail lines of the world had begun operating under conditions similar to those of the Red Line. Sources familiar with the project believe that it will take days for official approval to be received from the German company. In the past, approval has already been said to be on the verge, but inspection procedures have taken longer than expected, although even skeptics have been a little more optimistic since the LOI was received.

Only after the final approval of the German inspection company will the Steering Committee headed by the Director General of the Ministry of Transport, Moshe Ben Zaken, meet with representatives of the Ministries of Transport and Finance, and a date will be determined for the opening of the light rail. Thus, the probability of opening the line this month is declining and the opening seems more feasible only in August.

The opening date will also take into account the opening ceremony that will take place with the launch of the line, and this depends on the government’s schedules and in particular if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend.

234,000 passengers are expected to travel the Red Line each day. The 24-kilometer line with 34 stations will connect five local authorities: Petah Tikva, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv-Jaffa and Bat Yam.

The Red Line was initially scheduled to open in October 2021, but was pushed back to November 2022 and has been repeatedly pushed back since then. At first it was promised to open the line in the first quarter of 2023, then in March, Independence Day and so on. Projects of this magnitude are frequently delayed around the world, but in many cases there is more transparency and public information while in Israel the NTA has repeatedly adhered to dates that were clearly not realistic.

“The opening date of the Red Line will be determined by the Department of Transportation,” the NTA said.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on July 16, 2023.

© Copyright Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.