The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, opened this Thursday the first section of a light rail for Tel Aviv and its metropolitan area.
"Those who support us and those who oppose us will all use this light rail"Netanyahu said. The mayor of Tel Aviv, Ron Huldai, was largely absent from the event, a gesture of protest against the closure of the train in Shabbat.
“The light rail must also operate and serve the public on weekends, as is appropriate in a liberal and democratic country,” he told local media.
Meanwhile, hundreds of protesters protested against the government and blocked several streets in Tel Aviv and Petah Tikvah, a city where many ultra-Orthodox people reside and where the light rail line ends.
This railway section, whose work was completed several years late and is expected to open to the public tomorrow, Friday, will not operate for Shabbat, a sacred day in Judaism that begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday.
The first train that will run on Saturday will begin operating in Petah Tikva at 21:30 p.m., but the service will end 43 minutes later and will not be reactivated until Sunday.
The red light rail line, the first of three that will form the railway network, has 34 stations along 24 km in 5 municipalities, and is expected to transport approximately 234.000 people daily.
The new light train, fully electric and without a locomotive, is made up of two connected cars with a total length of 70 meters and capacity for 450 passengers, which will have internet connection and information screens.
When the train brakes or travels downhill, it produces energy that feeds back into the system, generating about 15% of the energy it consumes.
NTA, a state-owned company founded in 1997, is in charge of the design and construction of the railway system.
At the end of July, Netanyahu announced a $27.000 billion project to build a high-speed train that will connect the northern and southern ends of the country, and that, In the long term, it would reach Saudi Arabia.
With information from agencies.
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