In the video: the red line of the light rail in Gush Dan went on a test drive - it will open to passengers on Friday/Niv Aharonson
While Transport Minister Miri Regev was preparing for a trip to Sri Lanka and India with her daughter, the light train in the center collapsed this morning (Sunday) for the third time in recent weeks.
Around 6:30 the trains on the red line stopped at the stations.
Passengers on them were taken down to the platforms and the trains did not continue on their way.
The inspectors advised them not to wait for the fault to be fixed, but to make their way by other means of transport.
Tens of thousands of passengers who planned to use the light rail on a congested Sunday to bypass the congestion on the way to their destinations discovered that even an investment of NIS 18.7 billion does not guarantee them a quick arrival there.
Although the Ministry of Transportation announced that it will reinforce Dan Company's line number 1, which runs along the light rail route and is supposed to back it up in the event of a malfunction, passengers reported heavy loads and overcrowding on the buses this morning.
By the way, the line is supposed to be closed later this year on the grounds that there is no need for it.
"My boss didn't really understand that I arrived at work almost an hour late," said Yaron, a resident of Petah Tikva who was taken off the light rail and had to look for alternative transportation to his workplace in Rishon Lezion.
"In the last few months it seemed that the light rail was working properly, now I will again consider driving my car to work. There are traffic jams, but at least there are no such surprises."
Preparing for a trip to Sri Lanka and India together with her daughter.
The Minister of Transportation at the launch of the light rail/Reuven Castro
The chairman of the "Transportation in our way" public transportation passenger association, Max Morogovski, told Walla: "The frequent signaling failures in the last month are disrupting the schedule of passengers and their ability to rely on the light rail to get to work.
Passengers expect NATA and Tevel to take quick solutions to identify and prevent the malfunctions ahead of time, even if this requires monitoring throughout the night, to ensure a smooth start of service in the morning."
Tevel, the subsidiary of Egged that operates the Red Line, kept the line in operation only after about two hours, and about another hour until all the trains resumed operating with the planned frequency.
It should be noted that this was the seventh malfunction in the last few weeks that led to the shutdown of the Red Line, after it seemed that Tel and Israel had overcome the technical problems that delayed its opening by almost a year, last August.
Project officials said that the malfunction this time was in the signaling system provided by Alstom, and the reason for this is being examined. In the previous malfunctions The line did not start operating at all on those days, after the problem was detected even before the planned start of operation at 5 a.m. Even then, several hours passed until the fault was repaired.
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The red line of the light rail/Reuben Castro
The Red Line has struggled in recent months with a sharp drop in the number of passengers.
After in the first weeks after the opening the number of daily passengers already reached about 100 thousand people, it dropped dramatically with the outbreak of the war.
However, while the number of passengers on the bus lines has returned to close to 100% of what it was before the war, on the red line only 70,000 people travel a day, far from the original estimates of 70,000 people.
The announcement last month by Haim Glick, CEO of Neta, about his departure only added to the question marks about the future of the project and the launch of the next lines, the green and the purple, which are expected to open another year late, in 2028-2029
. Shortly after learning about the problem.
Upon learning of the malfunction on the red line in Gush Dan, the ministry prepared to operate public transportation lines parallel to the rail route for the passengers.
It should be noted that the red line was activated about six months ago and its systems are in a constant stabilization process.
Great efforts are made to maintain a high level of reliability of the line.
When there is a malfunction in the operation of the line, the Ministry of Transportation works with the NTA and it is carried out, at the end of which fines are imposed if necessary."
The number of passengers dropped dramatically with the outbreak of the war.
The Red Line/Ruben Castro
Tevel, the operator of the light rail's red line, said: "Tevel, in collaboration with NTA and Alstom, is conducting an in-depth investigation of the malfunctions in the signaling system that cause the service to stop.
We do everything necessary to ensure the stabilization of the system and the provision of a reliable service to the public.
We apologize for the inconvenience caused to the traveling public this morning and are working to provide the best service to the traveling public."
The 15 Minutes organization for public transportation stated: "Diacles in Dankel seriously harm the routine of passengers, and this is not the first time.
This is especially significant now due to the reduction in the frequency of line 1 (the bus line identical in its route to the red line route) along with the reduction in frequency of other lines and route changes.
All of these changes were made with the idea that the red line can be trusted to arrive on time, increasing its frequency and after giving a few months from the opening of the Dankel to adapt and deal with faults that may happen at the beginning.
We are about half a year since the opening of the line - it seems that right now the number of breakdowns is only increasing, while there is no adequate alternative for this line now.
Those who are affected are of course the passengers who have to suffer overcrowding on the bus lines, change several lines on their way to work, or "spend" hours in traffic jams.
Tevel, which operates the Dankel, must address the issue as soon as possible.
More on the same topic:
Miri Regev
The light rail in Gush Dan
the red line