Minister of Transport, Yisrael Katz, asked the ministry’s staff to promote the planning of an extension to the upcoming high-speed railway line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem so that it extends into the Old City, near the Western Wall. As part of the project, an underground stop will be built in the Western Wall area. The extension will involve digging tunnels for two kilometers at a depth of 80 meters.
The high-speed railway project’s costs are estimated to be about NIS 7 billion (USD 2 billion). It includes the laying of 56 kilometers of tracks, which go from Tel Aviv, through Ben Gurion Airport and Modi’in, and end in Jerusalem. Trips from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem are expected to take just 28 minutes.
Work on the line is expected to conclude by the end of 2017, with its first voyages planned for Passover 2018. Three trains are expected to launch between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem each hour during peak times of day, with a total of four million trips per year.
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