Railway to Karmiel
The Railway to Karmiel is a
From Karmiel, a plan exists to eventually extend the railway to Korazim (near Safed) and from there to Kiryat Shmona at the very northern tip of Israel. The Northern District Planning and Building Committee approved plans for the line in the spring of 2021. The plan will include considerable tunneling and bridging work and will cost at least NIS 20 bn. [1]
Planning and financing
The railway was first proposed in the early 2000s but the plans were put on hold in the Sharon government due to financial reasons. An alternative plan to instead create a light rail line from Haifa to Karmiel was rejected.[2] The Knesset's Research and Information Centre criticised the relevant authorities for not doing enough research on the advantages and disadvantages of light vs. heavy rail in the project.[3] The light rail plan was supported by Ministry of Finance and Haifa's development company Yefe Nof, while the heavy rail plan was supported by Israel Railways and the Karmiel municipality.[3][4] The light rail to Karmiel would have been part of a larger project that would include Nazareth and Acre.[3] The Nazareth section was eventually also rejected in favour of a heavy rail line.[5]
In 2009, a number of northern municipalities turned to the
On February 24, 2010, the Israeli government voted to appropriate funds to construct the line as part of a larger national infrastructure spending package.
Route and technical specifications
The railway is
The railway will include two stations, Ahihud and Karmiel, with the possibility of additional stations adjacent to Jadeidi-Makr and Majd al-Krum.[3] It has been declared a national project under National Infrastructure Plan 12/2.[9] In the future, it will be extended to Kiryat Shmona, the northernmost city in Israel.[3]
Construction
Upon the approval of the line, construction was expected to last between 2011 and 2015.
- Na'aman Junction – Yasif Junction
- A 6.5 km (4.0 mi) section, including bridges over the Na'aman and Hilazon streams, a 900 meters (980 yd) diversion of Hilazon Stream, and converting 1.2 km (1,300 yd) of Highway 4 to a bridge over the railway.[7] The tender was published on March 17, 2011 and the winner, Terre Armee, was chosen in late June 2011.[11] Work on the section itself is expected to start in early 2012 and end in late 2013.[12]
- Yasif Junction – Bar Lev Industrial Zone (Ahihud)
- The tender for this section will be published in early 2012.[12]
- Gilon Tunnels
- A pair of 4.6 to 5 km (2.9 to 3.1 mi) tunnels, as well as 18 connection and escape tunnels, under Mount Gilon between CCECC won the tender, beating Hofrei HaSharon and Max Bögl, Minrav and Moscow Metrostroy, Eyal Sela and Roltsur Tunnels, and Shafir Engineering and Impresa Pizzarotti.[8] Planning was expected to take 8 months, while construction was to take an approximate 32 months.[12] Work on the tunnel started in April 2012.[13]
Construction of the line was completed in March 2017 and service began in September of that year.[14][15]
References
- ^ "Karmiel - Kiryat Shmona railway route approved". Globes. 23 June 2021.
- ^ a b Perry, Galit (December 3, 2009). "Railway to Karmiel? Finance Ministry Hasn't Heard of It". Mynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f g Yosef, Idan (May 30, 2010). "Exposé: Galilee Railway Failure" (in Hebrew). News1. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- ^ The Marker(in Hebrew). Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Gutman, Lior (May 30, 2011). "Netanyahu Ordered: Railway from Nazareth to Haifa will be Regular, not Light". Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 26, 2011.
- Ma'ariv. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c Gutman, Lior (June 29, 2011). "Tar Arma to Build Akko–Karmiel Railway". Calcalist (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c Wohlberg, Erez (August 24, 2011). "Danya Cebus and the Chinese CCECC Won Tender for Railway between Akko and Karmiel" (in Hebrew). Globes. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "Haifa–Karmiel Railway" (in Hebrew). Israel Railways. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ Perry, Galit (March 2, 2010). "Government Announcement: Railway to Karmiel by 2015". Mynet (in Hebrew). Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ "First Tender Winner in the Railway to Karmiel Selected". Port2Port (in Hebrew). June 29, 2011. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
- ^ a b c d "Railway to Karmiel: Construction of Temporary Bypass on Highway 4 Started". פורט2פורט (in Hebrew). Port2Port. October 25, 2011. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
- ^ "Work starts on Gilon tunnel". Railway Gazette. April 24, 2012. Retrieved April 30, 2012.
- ^ "Karmiel - Akko railway line completed". Globes. 16 March 2017. Retrieved 21 March 2017.
- ^ "Israel inaugurates Acre - Carmiel line". International Railway Journal. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
External links
- Aerial video of the line under construction in 2015
- Israel Railways official project information page (in Hebrew)
- Map of the railway at Port2Port
- Knesset Research and Information Center's report on light vs. heavy rail from Haifa–Acre to Karmiel (in Hebrew)