The railroad management and the city engineer recently met to advance plans regarding the future of the high-speed train and the currently existing train and railroad tracks. The intention is to start with a train tunnel that will have a station in the heart of the bay and then a tunnel to Magadim. Along with this high-speed train, according to the plans, there will be another high-speed train that will have a station in the lower city and it will also reach Tel Aviv at a speed of 250 km/h. According to the plans, the train is expected to have another station in Haifa, probably on the Carmel beach.
The debate in Tel Aviv was cancelled
On September 4, 2017, there was supposed to be a discussion on this plan, Botal (the Committee for National Infrastructures), which was canceled under heavy pressure from the Haifa municipality. The reason for the cancellation was that the Haifa municipality opposes the doubling of the track before the tunneling. The plan to double the track is in fundamental contradiction to the plan of Minister Kahlon for tunneling the coastal railway and opening the city of Haifa to the sea. The plan also jeopardizes the plan to open the front of the city's sea in front of Ben Gurion Boulevard.
Proposal for two routes (not final...)
One of the plans, which is currently on the table, is to establish a high-speed train, which will cover the distance between the heart of the Gulf and Tel Aviv in a relatively short time. The city resident will be able to choose between two alternatives. The first is to get to the heart of the bay by car or by public transportation (if by car, he can save time by using the tunnels) and from there continue by high-speed train to Tel Aviv. According to estimates, the train will travel at a speed of over 200 km/h (like high-speed trains in Europe), so it will be worthwhile for Haifa residents living in Neve Shanan, Kiryat Haim, Kiryat Shmuel and nearby areas to reach the heart of the Gulf. Another option that was decided upon in recent months is to use another high-speed train that will come to pick up passengers in the downtown area and at the Carmel Beach station (according to estimates, the plan has not yet received final approval).
The other alternative would be to continue traveling by train from the stations in Haifa. According to the plan, the existing train, which will stop at several stations throughout the city, will also be faster than the train today (it is estimated that its speed will reach 160 km/h). At the same time, the number of trains per hour may be smaller than today, since there will be another train, the train There is now a discussion about some of the stations, and probably some of the stations that exist today will be canceled.
The railway management is supposed to act in order to sink the railway tracks and allow the city of Haifa to develop the sea front. If the railway management had doubled the tracks, as will happen in the coming years, in the Haifa area and not buried the railway tracks, it would have meant that the attempt to open the city towards the seashore would have failed and the failure would have accompanied the city permanently.
Even years ago, the municipality announced its intention to develop the sea front and create here a look similar to what is happening in Barcelona. In order for this plan to be realized, the railway management must bury the railway tracks, especially when there is an intention to double the railway tracks. This is a project costing billions, so the one who needs to finance it is the state (Ministry of Transportation).
The municipality's management announced in an unambiguous way that it would not be possible to electrify the railway tracks, but only to bury them. This is how you can also see in the video interview whether Yaron Karmi was with Yahav, recently:
Even in the last meeting, which was held with the railway management, the representatives of the municipality made it clear that the municipal sea front would be severely damaged if the railway tracks were not sunk, and the municipality would fight with all its might so that such a plan would not be carried out.
In addition, there is an intention to make a change in the train stations. One of the proposed alternatives talks about canceling the eight station in the lower city. Since the train station is currently used by many train passengers, the question arises as to whether the cancellation of the station will not harm a large passenger public.
It should be noted that one of the parties involved in the future planning, attorney Dvir Langer, believes that the sinking of the train is a big mistake and will greatly harm the residents of Haifa and the city itself. According to him, there is no chance that it will be possible to carry out the plan at all since it requires excavations and damage to the city itself and to daily life of many residents. In his opinion, the only alternative that has a chance of being carried out is the construction of a tunnel, through which the train will travel and then the Carmel Beach station will be near Matam. In his opinion, the sinking of the train would require damage to the mountain and long-term works near residences (for example, in the Kiryat Eliezer neighborhood), and there is no chance that it would be possible to carry out such a project successfully.
The municipality stated here in response: The municipality considers the service provided from the center of the metropolis where the largest population concentration is of the utmost importance. Not only will the stations not be canceled, but another new station will be built at the Customs House to serve Kiryat Govt Island, in addition to the stations that currently exist in Bat Galim serving the Rambam Hospital Island, and the HaCarmel Beach station serving Matam and Sami Ofer Stadium. The service to the city centers is an essential element that enables the development of the big cities, as the station is located in the center of Jerusalem, and as the Tel Aviv stations serve the metropolitan island, and as in every modern city in Europe, the train stations are located in their center. Only such a comprehensive system of stations will guarantee the maximum number of train passengers from the Haifa metropolis and the surrounding area.
Car owners are urged to park at the Lev HaForetz Mall to use the train that goes to Tel Aviv. This stupid thing blocks most of the mall's parking spaces. Therefore, the intention is good and the result is bad. Parking lots must be built around the mall, especially on the side of the container terminal (the back side of the mall). Otherwise, the business owners in the mall lose millions due to the lack of parking spaces for citizens. :7 in the morning and returned from a day of work in Tel Aviv when they take up most of the parking lot of the mall and the cinemas, it's a dream here
And when will it be? Maybe in 2057…
If they don't build enough parking lots near the train station and instead they tell us stories that the private car will disappear from the world, we will remain in a problem and there will be someone to blame