The Jerusalem Municipality submitted plans for the Blue Line of the light rail system, which will extend from the Gilo neighborhood at the southern tip of Jerusalem to Ramot, the northernmost neighborhood.
The decision to draw the train's route through Emek Refaim was taken in coordination with the public and after a long procedure in which all the alternatives and residents' opinions were taken into account.
After assessing all the considerations it was decided that the train would pass through Emek Refaim and in this way it would revive the business sector as well as providing clean, environmentally friendly transportation instead of the congestion and pollution which has characterized the area until now. More people would pass through this way and this would help local businesses and residents.
Originally the train was supposed to pass along the route of the previous train which entered Jerusalem near Emek Refaim but that has been turned in the past few years into a park and is a huge success. Residents asked that the train be transferred to Emek Refaim and that the park be preserved and therefore the mayor, Nir Barkat, decided to defer submitting plans and consulted with residents over the plans. Barkat welcomed the proposal to place the line in Emek Refaim, saying that it would be a success like the line traversing Jaffa Street which helped revive the city center.
However local residents are not all thrilled at the prospect of the new line passing through Emek Refaim and some claimed that it had lots of problematic issues which were raised in a professional assessment which they had requisitioned. They claimed that the city was ignoring this assessment which offered other alternative options for the train line.
City officials responded by saying that the work on the line would be performed in stages so that local residents would be minimally disturbed. They promised that solutions would be found for entry and exit from all the streets around Emek Refaim and that they would take into account residents comments in implementing their plan.