In 18 months, the citizens of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem will be able to travel from the capital to the center in just 30 minutes on a new high-speed rail line. The USD 2 billion project involved boring tunnels through mountains and spanning bridges over deep valleys.
The distance between the two cities is 60 km and currently the commuting sometimes takes even two hours, thus, a high speed rail will definitely strengthen the connection.
The new line takes a more direct route, cutting through the steep hills between the Mediterranean and Jerusalem, which sits 800 meters above sea level.
Working with 10 foreign companies, the line runs over 10 bridges and through five tunnels. Construction began in 2010 and is scheduled to end in March 2018.
Double-decker trains accommodating around 1,700 passengers will travel at 160 km/h. The plan is for four departures an hour, serving 50,000 commuters a day, or 10 million a year, said Boaz Zafrir, the chief executive of Israel Railways.
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