Tel Aviv Light Rail

Logo of Tel Aviv Light Rail

Map of the planned network as of 2020. All three light rail lines are under construction; the rest is subject to change.

Dankal (also Tel Aviv Light Rail) is a planned mass transit system for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in central Israel. The system will include different modes of mass transit, including rapid transit (metro), light rail transit (LRT), and bus rapid transit (BRT). The government agency overseeing the project is NTA, and it will complement the intercity and suburban rail network operated by Israel Railways.

As of 2021, three LRT lines are under construction. Work on the Red Line, the first in the project, started on September 21, 2011, following years of preparatory works,^[1] and is expected to be completed in late 2022 after numerous delays.^[2][3] Construction of the Purple Line started in December 2018; work on the Green Line was set to begin in January 2019.^[4]

The network was originally meant to be called "MetroTLV" but was changed to "Dankal" by request from politician Miri Regev to find a Hebrew name for the network but also to separate it from the planned rapid transit lines named "Metro"

History[]

Tel Aviv Light rail, construction site on Yehuda Halevi Street

The first proposals for a tramway in the area were made by the Lebanese engineer George Franjieh in November 1892, about nine weeks after the inauguration of the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. The plan called for a main line between southern and northeastern Jaffa, with spurs to the harbor and the eastern orchards. The plan was considered uneconomical and was shelved. A later plan called for a light railway from Jaffa to the nearby settlements of Rishon LeZion, Petah Tikva and Wilhelma.^[5]

A Decauville light railway was built in Jaffa and Tel Aviv in World War I, connecting the port with the Yarkon River. It was used for about a decade after the war, and dismantled at a later date.

A subway system was first planned in the mid-1960s, and in 1967 a station at the Shalom Meir Tower was inaugurated in the presence of then Prime Minister Levi Eshkol.^{[citation needed]} However, financial difficulties forced the abandonment of the project, and Shalom Meir remains the only subway station in Tel Aviv, disconnected from other transport links.^{[citation needed]}

Revised plan: Light Rail[]

In 2000, the plan for a subway was changed to one for light rail, and more plausible plans for a mass transit system in Tel Aviv were unveiled. The first 22 kilometres (14 mi) Red Line has been approved, and excavation began in late 2009, with construction of the underground stations beginning in August 2015. The Red Line is expected to become operational in 2022.

In December 2006, the MTS group was awarded a BOT contract for the Red Line of the light rail, by which they are to build and operate the line for its first 32 years. MTS consisted of Africa Israel, Siemens of Germany, the Egged Bus Cooperative, Chinese infrastructure company CCECC, the Portuguese infrastructure firm Soares da Costa, and the leading Dutch transportation company HTM.^[6] After many years of delays due to MTS financing issues, in December 2010 the government revoked MTS' concession and nationalized the project, putting it under the authority of NTA, the government agency which was in charge with overseeing the overall development of the rapid transit system in the Tel Aviv metro area.^[7]

Current status[]

Construction on the first line, from Bat Yam to Petah Tikva, began in August 2015.^[8][9] In February 2017, most of the stations on the Red Line were already under construction. The preparations for the construction of the second line (Green Line) started on February 5, 2017 on Ibn Gabirol Street in Tel Aviv. Infrastructure works for the Purple Line began in December 2018.^[4]

Light rail[]

Primary line	Color	Service bullets
Red Line	Red
Green Line	Green
Purple Line	Purple

All three LRT lines are under construction. When complete, they will cover a network of 85 kilometres (53 mi).

Red Line[]

MetroTLV-branded Mock-up trainset standing outside the light rail depot

About 11 km (6.8 mi)^[16] of the 22 kilometres (14 mi) Red Line is to be built underground, with the remaining overground segment constructed as a light rail/tram. It is to have 34 stops, 10 of which will be underground, with an average distance of about 1000 meters between underground stops and of about 500 metres between overground stops. The line would run from Bat Yam in the southwest, through Jaffa and central Tel Aviv, and carry on to Petah Tikva, through Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak. An interchange is planned for Tel Aviv Central railway station. It has been forecast that by 2020, 100 million passengers would be using this line annually.^{[citation needed]}

Stations (underground in italics): Nissenbaum, HaAmal, Kaf Tet BeNovember, Yoseftal, Bar Ilan, Balfour, Jabotinsky, Rothschild, HaAztmaut, Machrozet, HaBaashat, Issakov, Erlich, Ben Tzvi, Salame, Elifelet, Allenby, Carlebach, Yehudit, Shaul HaMelech, Arlozorov, Abba Hillel, Bialik, Ben-Gurion, Aharonowitz. From Aharonowitz, one branch continues to Shenkar, Rabin, Beilinson, Dankner, Orlov, Pinsker, Petah Tikva Central Bus Station (Terminal); another continues to Em HaMoshavot and the Kiryat Aryeh Maintenance Depot.

The work on Allenby station began on February 8, 2015.

In May 2021, a test run of the red line began in Petah Tikva.

Tel Aviv Light Rail Rolling Stock out of the CRRC factory in China, June 2019.

Green Line[]

The second or Green Line, in the tender phase, is a 35 kilometres (22 mi) line with 62 stops that would run from the west of Rishon LeZion northwards through Holon through central Tel Aviv splitting into two branches: one to Herzliya in the north and the other one to Ramat HaHayal neighborhood in Tel Aviv in the northeast. Only its central Tel Aviv segment, four of the 62 stations, be underground, from Levinski Street through Ibn Gabirol Street until the Yarkon River.^[17] The expected annual passenger forecast is 65 million. NTA is including the design and boring of the Green Line's tunnels as part of Red Line's tunnels overall contract so that work on the Green Line's underground portion can commence immediately following the completion of the Red Line tunnels. The preparations for the construction of this line begun in February 2017 in Ibn Gabirol street in Tel Aviv.^{[citation needed]}

Purple Line[]

The third, or Purple Line, is envisaged as a 27 kilometres (17 mi) line with 43 stops and will connect Sheba Hospital through Giv'at Shmuel and Kiryat Ono, and will connect Arlozorov in Tel Aviv to Yehud and Or Yehuda through Ramat Gan. This line will be over-ground for its entire route.

Cancelled lines[]

Yellow Line[]

This line would have begun in Kfar Saba then continued on to Hod Hasharon, Herzliya, Ramat Hasharon on Sokolov Street, before joining Ben-Gurion Street in Ramat Gan, then Yitzhak Rabin Street in Givataim, then Moshe Dayan Street in Tel Aviv, Mikveh Israel, it would end in Holon after crossing Ariel Sharon Park. Parts of it were superseded by the M1 metro line.

Metro[]

The rapid transit plan for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, conceived and approved in 2016, called for three underground metro lines, centered on Tel Aviv: a north–south line (M1), an east–west line (M2), and a circular line (M3).^[18] The lines are currently undergoing an individual approval process.

Bus rapid transit[]

Most BRT lines planned for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area were cancelled in 2016 and replaced with metro lines. Only plans for the Brown Line were retained, however, no date for start of construction has been announced.

Brown Line[]

The Brown Line is a planned BRT line that will serve the southern metropolitan area. Starting at Moshe Dayan Railway Station in western Rishon LeZion, it will continue east via central Rishon LeZion, bypassing Assaf HaRofeh Medical Center, until Ramle, where it splits into two branches: one continues to Lod in the northeast and the second continues to eastern Ramle in the east. There is a possibility of making it a light rail line eventually.

Cancelled lines[]

Blue Line[]

The Blue Line was the first BRT line not to pass via Tel Aviv. The line would have begun in Rehovot and continued to HaRishonim Railway Station in Rishon LeZion via Ness Ziona and ended at the Holon junction. This line was superseded by the M1 metro line.

Pink Line[]

The Pink Line was planned to serve the northern metropolitan area, beginning in northeastern Kfar Saba and continuing through its main streets until crossing Highway 4 to Ra'anana, continuing through Ahuza Street until western Ra'anana, and continuing to Herzliya and crossing it until the Marina area, where it would have terminated. This line was superseded by the M1 and M3 metro lines.

Orange Line[]

The Orange Line would have been the only line isolated from the system. It would serve only the city of Netanya in the northern metropolitan area. It would be a circular line that connects both sides of the city, crossing Highway 2.

See also[]

• Carmelit
• Jerusalem Light Rail
• List of tram and light rail transit systems

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tel Aviv Light Rail.

• NTA (in English) – Tel Aviv Subway developer, builder and operator.
• NTA (in Hebrew)
• Map of all lines on Govmap.gov.il