| New: Jerusalem's Underground Railway Stations In honor of Jerusalem Day, the Transport Ministry announced plans for two new underground stations in Jerusalem's city center, extending from the high-speed line to Jerusalem. Transport Minister General Miri Regev said "The extension of the high-speed line to the city center and close to the Old City is a significant step to advance the vision of the Ministry of Transport to allow every resident to get anywhere in the city by reliable and affordable public transport. By the end of the decade, Jerusalem will be the first city in Israel to enjoy a complete network of light rail and a connection to high-speed rail all over the country"
The project to extend the high-speed rail route into Jerusalem is gaining momentum. The Transport Ministry and the Israel Railways are revealing today for the first time what the two new high-speed train stations that will be built in the center of the capital will look like.
The Transport Ministry is working through Israel Railways to promote a large-scale plan to extend the high-speed rail line to Jerusalem so that it reaches the city center. The line will include two new train stations, further along the underground route from Yitzhak Navon station. In the future, the line is planned to reach Malha. The project is in the advanced stages of planning and approval, and the work is expected to start soon.
The entire line will operate in an underground tunnel that will not interfere with traffic in the city, and will include the construction of two new mega-stations: Jerusalem-Merkaz and Jerusalem Khan. The project is in cooperation with the Jerusalem Municipality and the transportation master plan team. The new stations will be designed as environmental structures that characterize the fabric of life in Jerusalem. With the completion of the project, it will be possible to operate 13 trains every hour in each direction, which will carry about 20 thousand passengers every hour.
The first station to open will be the Jerusalem-Center station, near the intersection of King George and Jaffa streets. The stations will interface with the bus lines in the city center and the two light rail lines - the existing red line, and the blue line, which planned to operate before the end of the decade.
The Jerusalem-Center station will allow passengers arriving from outside the city by train to continue directly to the center of the city, without the need to exit the Yitzhak Navon station and transfer to the light rail or bus, and reach the business centers and entertainment areas of Mahane Yehuda Market and Jaffa Street, and the Mea Shearim neighborhood, and the Old City within a few minutes.
The next station to be built is the Khan station, which is close to tourist centers such as the Bell Garden, the old station complex and the renovated Train Theater. The station will be connected by short and convenient walking paths to the Old City, with optimal connectivity to all means of transport. The entrance plaza to the station building will serve as a central gateway to the tourist and cultural routes in the area.
It should be noted that since the high-speed line to Jerusalem began operating in 2018, over 15 million trips have been made on it. The high-speed line to Jerusalem operates Sunday through Thursday 24 hours a day with a frequency of two trains per hour until midnight and after midnight with a frequency of one train per hour. On Friday and Saturday evenings, the line operates according to Shabbat times.
The Jerusalem stations project joins other important Transport Ministry projects with Israel Railways that are being promoted today, which are designed to absorb the expected increase in the number of trips, from about 70 million trips in 2019, to over 100 million trips in 2025, and up to 300 million trips expected in 2040.
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