(haipo) - The High Court of Justice, consisting of three judges, will discuss the planning procedures by the Haifa municipality and the Israel Railways, related to the sinking of the tracks.
The petitioners adopt the principle plan of the Haifa architect Shmuel Galbhart, to tunnel the train on a shortened route under Carmel, instead of sinking the train on the existing route, which goes around Carmel along the coastal strip and unnecessarily extends the duration of the trip by about 50 minutes (according to the petitioners).

(personal album)
Shmuel Galbhart has been trying to promote the tunnel route for years. He claims that the subsidence is impractical and will not happen. Today, Galbhart did not have many partners for the idea, but recently other voices began to be heard in this regard... Galbhart claims that the subsidence alternative creates endless constraints of infrastructure works bordering private plots and therefore the lawyers are the ones who will prevent the alternative.
The tunnel alternative, on the other hand, allows the excavation teams to work almost undisturbed under the Carmel and with minimal friction with private land. "This is a practical project, which depends on engineers and contractors and not on lawyers, so it will be realized quickly" says Shmuel Galbhart.
The High Court with three judges will discuss the planning procedures by the Haifa municipality and the Israel Railways, related to the sinking of the tracks.
As a reminder, on 9/6/2015, the municipality announced its agreement with the Ministry of Finance, the Israel Land Authority (RMI), and the railway management, following on from the previous compromise agreement with the Ministry of Transport, regarding the sinking of the railway tracks in the section between the Customs House and the Dagon silos. According According to the agreement, the Treasury will allocate 1.3 billion NIS for this, and the municipality, for its part, will promote residential real estate projects.
The agreement is anchored in the national outline plan for beaches TMA 13, in the section that refers to the development of an urban seafront in Haifa.

A demonstration for the removal of the rail from the Haifa coastline (Photo: Yaron Karmi)
There are different alternatives for the tunnel route
The tunnel alternatives all cross the Carmel and shorten the train journey by shortening the road and increasing the travel speed. The alternatives are drawn here in green in very general lines. The alternative of settling on the existing route is highlighted in red. Green tunnel alternatives versus the subsidence alternative
The petition to the High Court was submitted by "The Three Shikims - the association for the promotion of life and the environment in the Western Galilee". According to the association, TMA 13 in the context of the urban sea front, is essentially a local plan, and is not a suitable framework for dealing with changing the route of the railways.
Along with the plan to open the port as a tourism and trade area (within TMA 13), Israel Railways is promoting a plan to double the tracks, from Kibbutz Shafiim in the south to the area outside the Gulf (north of Check Post), and this within a plan that has been recognized as a national infrastructure plan - Subtal 65 The doubling of the track will allow, according to Israel Railways plans, travel at speeds of up to 250 km/h.
According to the "Three Shikims", instead of sinking the existing "Circle Haifa" route, which greatly lengthens the journey, it is preferable to dig a tunnel directly from the check-post area in the north to the south of Haifa, which will allow increasing the speed of the trains already from the Western Galilee, and shortening the journey from the north to the center by up to 50 minutes and even less.
"The Three Shikims" claims that the planning procedures as carried out did not allow it to present the tunneling alternative, which it preferred.
According to her, there may also be other tunnel alternatives in different directions, some of which were presented by the residents of Haifa on different occasions,
And even in them there was no discussion of an orderly planning procedure, since the plan for the development of the urban seafront is a local plan that will not deal with any tunnel alternative.
Adv. Dvir Langer, who represents the "three restorers" in the petition, explained:
"The planning process now promoted by the planning institutions, with the blessing of the railway, thwarts an orderly process of examining various alternatives for the route of the railways in the vicinity of Haifa, including various tunnel alternatives which are much preferable, both for the residents of the north and for the residents of Haifa. It is to be hoped that the political echelon will promote a tunnel alternative that suits the needs of the northern periphery, to quickly reach the main employment areas in the country, in less than a 50-minute drive from the tunnels
Or Karmiel, to the central Tel Aviv station.
I didn't understand what a tunnel is? An underground tunnel similar to the light rail or an overhead tunnel?