Transportation Minister Miri Regev's war over the metro and suburban train from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat made many headlines, not most of them were positive, but one good thing did come out of the media noise – promoting a plan that removes the need for a private vehicle from the agenda.
After reports over the weekend about US President Joe Biden's vision to connect India and the Middle East through a rail corridor, we decided to examine all the plans in the various planning committees aimed at making our lives easier as citizens desperate for public transportation. Perhaps, by 2040, we will finally get off the wheel and reach Eilat and even Saudi Arabia by train.
Azrieli to Iraq and Beijing
The likelihood of Biden's plan to build a line between Eilat and Saudi Arabia can be examined in light of a plan already promoted by Benjamin Netanyahu – the "New Silk Line," on which trains from Beijing to London via Israel will run in two days. As part of the route, it will also be possible to connect Iraq or Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea through the Beit She'an transit terminal to Haifa Port. To prove the seriousness of its intentions, the Chinese government announced that it was opening talks with 17 countries about the railway route that would pass through their territory.
Another train line is supposed to connect Beit She'an with the Emek HaMayanot Regional Council. The plan is for a 15 km long electrified double track – a continuation of the Emek Railway from its last station in Beit She'an to the Jordan River border terminal (Sheikh Hussein), for passenger and freight trains. The track connects to the approved strip designed for two tracks, of which only one track was actually built.
At the western end of the plan, the construction of a new passenger station, a station for loading and dropping off cargo, and an extension to the existing and active border crossing, which is planned to continue functioning while significantly increasing traffic passing through it. The planning in principle is based on the continuation of movement to Jordan and Iraq, although the route across the border will be planned by the Jordanians at an unknown date.
The plan partly follows the route of the ancient Ottoman railway, and partly cancels and replaces it.
NTA in the city center
Much has been said in recent years about the need – yes or no – for public transportation routes. First of all, it is important to understand that the NTA is usually intended to answer the need to move hundreds of public transportation vehicles and not to "get their eyes out" to those who are stuck in traffic and see empty lanes next to it. Plans currently being advanced by the Planning Administration include lanes for public transportation, including the National Outline Plan for Land Transportation TAMA 42, which determined the need for a public transportation route on intercity roads. This is in order to promote the transition to public transportation instead of the use of private vehicles.
One example of promoting public transportation routes is in Kiryat Ono, where a mayor dares to look beyond his upcoming term and more in an election year. Mayor Israel Gal plans to establish a public transportation terminal that will change the face of the city and offer a long-term solution to congestion and traffic jams with a fast connection with free shuttles to the Red Light Rail line, which is actually a metro up to Allenby Street in Tel Aviv.
Levi Eshkol Boulevard, the main street that crosses Kiryat Ono, is transforming from a main traffic artery that serves as an alternative to Geha Road to an urban street with shops and a public transportation system in its center, with bicycle paths alongside it, in order to prepare the city to be the first to exit the traffic jam using the red, purple and metro lines in the future.
Load relieving
In order to relieve the bottleneck that currently exists in the Gush Dan railway network, a national infrastructure plan was conceived to upgrade and add to the coastal railway in the section between the Tel Aviv Central Station (Savidor), through the Ayalon Highway (Route 20), along a section of Highway 1 until its connection to the Eastern Railway in Lod.
The plan designates the addition of a fourth track from Savidor Station to the Tel Aviv South compound, and the addition of third and fourth tracks from the Tel Aviv South complex to Lod, with changes in the layout of existing track routes as well as geometric rail improvements (such as the entrance to Lod).
Another plan is "Route 6 of the Railways", which is parallel to the coastal railway and forms the eastern railway backbone. The goal of the plan is to complete the national rail network to create an additional rail system that will serve as a main transportation artery for goods and passengers in the eastern region of the country, without the need for transit through Gush Dan.
The plan, which includes seven new stations, proposes a double track that extends for about 65 kilometers in the eastern coastal plain, from the coastal railway in the Pardes Hanna area, through Hadera, Tira, Kfar Saba, the airport complex at Ben Gurion Airport to Lod.
Easy drive north
In the Gush Dan area, development of the various light rail lines and their environs is planned. Among other things, 8 planning packages were approved for the Purple Line: Tel Aviv in the western segment, Givat Shmuel, Ramat Gan, Or Yehuda, and Yehud Neve-Monosson, as well as preliminary work at the pilots' junction in the eastern segment. In addition, two permits were approved for road structures: the expansion of the Haganah Bridge in Tel Aviv and the passage of the light rail under Highway 40.
On the Green Line, 11 planning packages were approved: Holon, Rishon LeZion, Tel Aviv, and Herzliya in the northern segment, and permission was approved for road structures in an underpass with Israel Railways in Yehoshua Park. In addition, work began with a planning and execution contractor for the underground section in Tel Aviv.
Fast connection to the main routes. Kiryat Ono Simulation: Courtesy of Kiryat Ono Municipality,
Let's move north: During 2018, a plan was approved for the Haifa-Nazareth "Nofit" light rail in Kiryat Ata. The plan includes a 41 km long high-speed light rail route, of which 30 km intercity at speeds of up to 100 km / h. Along the route are 20 stations, 9 park and ride parking lots, bridges, tunnels and other facilities.
The light rail will connect the Haifa metropolitan area with Nazareth and the Galilee landscape, serve residents of the north and improve their quality of life by encouraging the use of public transportation and easing traffic congestion.
The car will be waiting in Shefayim
The metro system is the largest infrastructure project planned in Israel, and the most significant for mass transit in metropolitan Tel Aviv. However, its completion is expected to be about twenty years ahead. The project consists of three lines with a total length of about 150 km and will include 109, through which about two million passengers will pass daily. The cost: NIS 150 billion (not final, of course).
The metro lines will connect the Tel Aviv metropolitan area - from Lod, Ramle and Rehovot in the south to Ra'anana and Kfar Saba in the north, and Petah Tikva in the east.
On Highway 5, the Planning Administration is planning three integrated transportation centers - the Kesem / Rosh HaAyin interchange, Tikva / Petach Tikva and Morasha. The Park and Ride parking lot includes an integrated transportation facility that will include, at its peak, a multi-storey building for parking about 7,000 private vehicles, facilities for operating shuttle lines, bus lines and a direct pedestrian connection to a future train station. The project will be built within the Hof Hasharon Regional Council.
Also in the plan: Route Six will be extended to the Beit HaEmek interchange, including the construction of a highway of about 22 kilometers, the construction of three new interchanges and the preservation of a strip of land parallel to the road for the construction of a future railway.
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