Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said on Tuesday that a new half-hour train link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv will open in early 2018, according to Agence France Presse. The two cities are less than 70 kilometers (44 miles) apart but are currently served only by a 90-minute winding railway line on a route designed during the British mandate.
Katz spoke to journalists during a tour of an underground tunnel. Built under Israeli control in conjunction with Chinese, Italian and Russian companies, the service will also stop at Ben Gurion International Airport, 10 kilometers east of Tel Aviv.