(haipo) - The train sinking project is one of the most important projects in the planning of the city of Haifa. In a conversation with the mayor, Mr. Yona Yahav, we mapped the status of the project.
► Watch the video interview I held with Yona Yahav, Mayor of Haifa
The sinking of the train in Haifa
The fight over the sinking of the railway began back in 2010. Then Israel Railways announced its intention to electrify the railway with overhead electrification. In Haifa they realized that overhead electrification would destroy the Haifa coastline and also endanger the residents due to the electromagnetic radiation.
A budget for partial subsidence was obtained in 2012
In 2012, at the end of two years of publicized struggle, a first agreement was reached on a partial settlement in Hecht Park, to the extent of half a billion NIS. 3 years passed without settlement and Kahlon, from Haifa, was appointed Minister of Finance.
Immediately upon his arrival, Kahlon signed a five-year plan for the complete sinking of the railway from the customs house to the Carmel beach.
The minister also made the agreement in the urban seafront project.
Doubling the track
In fact, a situation has arisen in which subsidence in Haifa is a condition for the national project of electrification.
Then another need came into the picture: Israel Railways wants to double the track along the coast, in order to increase train traffic. That is, instead of 2 tracks there will be 4. This is a large-scale infrastructure project, which has heavy implications for the allocation of land reserves within the city of Haifa.
Anyone familiar with the train route that runs through the neighborhoods of El Atika, Bat Galim, the Lower City and Hecht Park, knows that allocating additional land in these areas and maintaining safety margins from the houses is an impossible task.
Electrification above ground - on my dead body
Regarding the doubling of the track to 4 tracks and overhead electrification, Yahav says, "On my dead body it will happen in Haifa." Yahav knows that in order to sink the rail under the surface of the ground, a good few billions are required. He knows that only through a persistent struggle, the state will finance this project, as long as the Haifa municipality stops the national project of electrification and doubling the tracks.
Time plays against us
As long as Kahlon sits in the Finance Minister's chair, Haifa receives the treatment it deserves regarding the budget allocation. Kahlon included the issue in the five-year plan and there is a budget for it. However, the current government will reach the end of its term in about two years, if at all it will end its term and not disband.
"We will seize what we can," says Yahav, in order to advance the project as quickly as possible as long as Kahlon gives us the backing from the Ministry of Finance.
The tunneling plan
As the planning processes progressed, various alternatives were put on the table for moving the train underground. The first alternative is sedimentation, in a method called "Cut and Cover", meaning digging a trench several meters deep, building the track inside it and a thin cover over it.
The second alternative is a tunnel: Excavation of a tunnel that will pass the tracks under Carmel
The third alternative is a combination of the two, that is, subsidence from the railway museum, with to the Kiryat Eliaz area and from there a tunnel under the Maris stela to the Carmel beach.
The advantage of the tunnel is that it directs land reserves to real estate and enables the financing of the project, says Yona Yahav.
The project is in planning
Planning such a project is of a huge magnitude. Yahav explains that the project is currently in the detailed planning process, with members of the Haifa city engineer's office as well as Ariel Waterman himself, in the picture and involved in the planning details. "This is a huge complex of experts, operated by the railway management" Yahav explains. The downtown area, for example, is a drying area and below the surface is actually full of water. Excavating in an area full of water is expensive, but there are techniques to deal with it, which were developed mainly in the Netherlands, Yahav explains.
With the finalization of the planning, the plans will be submitted for approval to the planning committees and then we will move on to execution
Yahav estimates that in the fall of 2017 we will see a plan presented.
So when will there be full subsidence here?
Watch the video and see Yahav's assessment.
Success for all of us