The Tel Aviv-area light rail system will operate on the Sabbath beginning in roughly one year, the company which manages the system announced Sunday, after Israel’s Transportation Minister called to open the rail on the Jewish holy day.
At the request of the Minister of Transportation Merav Michaeli, the NTA company has prepared a preliminary assessment of the preparations for and the operational feasibility of operating the red line on Saturdays.
"Now the decision has been made, the ministry is entering into an accelerated planning procedure to ensure the operation of the red line on Saturdays,” said Michaeli. “We will work to implement what the majority wants; there is an historic opportunity here."
NTA Mass Metropolitan Transit System stated in a report prepared at the request of Minister Michaeli that it is possible to make preparations for the opening of the light rail in Gush Dan on Saturdays within about a year, following preparatory work that includes updating contracts, recruiting personnel and increasing the budget.
Minister of Transport and Road Safety Merav Michaeli MK asked chair of NTA Maya Liquornik that the company perform an analysis of operational and budgetary requirements to enable the regular operation of the red line of the light rail on Saturdays.
According to the feasibility study, the main line of the Gush Dan light rail will operate between Petah Tikva and Bat Yam on Saturdays, without the branch lines that are planned to pass through industrial areas and for which there is less projected demand on Saturdays. The company stated that the trains running through Bnei Brak pass underground and are not visible at ground level.
The frequency of the trains is estimated to be between 6 and 10 trains per hour. The company also stated that the purchase of new rolling stock will not be required to operate the train on Saturdays, but there will be an additional budget for staffing.
"The Ministry of Transport is entering into an accelerated planning process to promote public transportation on Saturdays,” Michaeli said. “The train has already left the station and the citizens of Israel deserve to be free from the weekend siege. I have always believed that the freedom of movement of Israeli citizens cannot be limited either by day or by hour, and therefore in the last year I have been working hard to reach agreements for the operation of public transport on Saturdays. In the State of Israel there is a huge majority who are interested in and need to travel by bus and train on Saturdays. The Israeli government today has a historic opportunity to make this possible and we must not miss it. Beyond the fact that it is impossible to continue to prevent those who need public transportation on Saturdays, this is a move that will promote equal opportunities and will get the State of Israel out of traffic jams."
The plan, first announced by Michaeli on Saturday, drew criticism from religious lawmakers.
"Transportation Minister Merav Michaeli is not interested in the traffic jams which millions of citizens suffer from each day," Noam party chairman MK Avi Maoz said. "Transportation Minister Michaeli is also not interested in the fact that hundreds of thousands of citizens have given up the option of using public transportation during her term."
"There is one thing that very much interests her: Turning the State of Israel into a state of all its citizens. This is the only goal for which she is willing to fight, even at the cost of the suffering of the State of Israel's citizens. Merav, a moment before you end your term, has it come time for you to stop harming the Jewish identity of the State and taking care of the things that really bother the citizens of Israel?"