The Appellate Subcommittee of the National Planning and Building Committee rejected appeals against the plan to double the coastal route of the Israel Railways from Shefayim to Haifa, thus ending the years-long planning saga.
The plan (National Infrastructure Plan 65a) was approved by the National Infrastructure Committee and the Coastal Environment Protection Committee, and a budget of 15.5 billion shekels was allocated in the five-year plan to develop the railway network, but seven appeals were filed against it, which prevented it from approving it by the government. Today, the Appeals Subcommittee has dismissed all appeals, mainly related to damage to the coastal environment, removing obstacles to final approval of the plan.
The plan consists of constructing two additional railway tracks along with the existing tracks for a total of 68 kilometers, including five kilometers of coastal environment. The new tracks will allow express trains, which travel at speeds of up to 250 kilometers per hour, to shorten the journey time between Tel Aviv and Haifa to half an hour. They will run partially underground. The other two tracks will be for suburban trains.
The additional lines will allow Israel Railways to run more trains and increase passenger numbers. The plan represents a large part of the railway’s strategic plan for 2030. The Hof Carmel station in Haifa will be expanded and the station in Binyamina will be moved outside the city. The second part of the plan, which has yet to be approved, covers doubling the tracks inside Haifa, a subject of deep contention, because of the way the rail lines cut the city from the sea.
Sources familiar with the project said lengthy planning procedures have delayed it by two years. On the other hand, environmental organizations protested the damage they said would be caused to the coast.
Against the background of the lengthy planning procedures for this plan, the recent Economic Arrangements Law accompanying the state budget introduced an amendment to the National Infrastructures Law whereby national infrastructures will not be discussed in the Coastal Environment Protection Committee, but representatives of environmental organizations will participate in the relevant discussions of the National Infrastructures Committee, which You will minimize the ability of organizations and people with relevant expertise to influence infrastructure planning in the coastal area.
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on June 11, 2023.
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