The Metro Project Video on the Need for It and What It Will Include / Planning Manager
Haim Glick CEO NTA and Miri Regev Minister of Transport / Reuven Castro
Just today, Transportation Minister Miri Regev boasted that she succeeded in preventing the cutting of the budget for transportation justice reform to public transportation in the periphery, prevented damage to the "Connecting Israel" rail project, and obtained budgets for repairing red roads and rehabilitating transportation infrastructure in the Gaza envelope.
But beneath the surface, another dramatic delay is developing in the ministry's flagship project: the metro. In a lecture to students at the Technion, NTA CEO Haim Glick said that the first phase of the metro will begin operating in 2040. This is another delay, of six years, compared to the current official date of 2034. This stage includes operation between Glilot south of Tel Aviv, the Rishonim station in Rishon LeZion, Ben Gurion Airport and Kiryat Ono.
NTA is planning and will be responsible for carrying out the project, and Glick revealed that its second phase will begin operating only in 2050, 13 years later than the current date. This phase includes the full operation of the M1 metro line, up to Rehovot, Ramle and Lod in the southern Gush Dan region to Herzliya, Ra'anana and Hod Hasharon, including a direct link between the Ono Valley and Ramat HaHayal, Ramat Hasharon and Glilot.
Map of metro lines and order of their opening/official website, NTA
Glick did not explain the reason for the delay, which is not surprising given the ongoing delay in approving the Metro Law and the M1 line. He said the completion of the planning phase would be postponed to early 2025, with a one-quarter delay due to the war.
That's not the only bad news Glick had. After the light rail's red line opened only last August, almost two years late, the next lines won't open on time either. The Purple Line, from Yehud Monosson, Or Yehuda and Givat Shmuel to central Tel Aviv will open only in March 2028 and the Green Line from Holon and Rashlezion to Herzliya only a year later, in March 2029. NTA still promises on its website to open the lines in 2028 and 2027, respectively.
NTA did not respond to a request for comment.
- More on the subject:
- Gush Dan metro
- Gush Dan Light Rail