The Tel Aviv Light Rail’s “Red Line” is set to begin operations this year on Israel’s Independence Day, Transportation Minister Miri Regev announced Wednesday.
Speaking at a news conference, Regev spoke about the ongoing delays that have kept the line from starting its operations first in October 2021, then in November 2022, and now in the first quarter of 2023.
Regev said she told the NTA company responsible for the project that if the line did not begin operations by Independence Day (April 26, 2023), she would “not continue with the agenda as it is.”
She added that she sat with the company for a “wide ranging discussion” and said there were “issues that were not the only problems that caused the delay.”
The opening of the Red Line, which is supposed to run to Petach Tikvah from Bat Yam, Yafo (Jaffa) and Tel Aviv via Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak, has been repeatedly delayed, most recently due to defects in the signaling system, according to Globes.
Regev is also reportedly considering transferring the Metro project out of the hands of NTA altogether, and handing it to another company, according to Israel’s Channel 12 News reporter Gal Chen.
