Over the next three months all 46 LRVs will be tested on this section
before the programme is extended across the remainder of the 13.8km Red
Line, where electrification is nearing completion. Full commercial
operation is now scheduled to begin in April 2011, after a 45-day
period of full operation without passengers.
before the programme is extended across the remainder of the 13.8km Red
Line, where electrification is nearing completion. Full commercial
operation is now scheduled to begin in April 2011, after a 45-day
period of full operation without passengers.
The 13.8km line from
Air Force Street to Mount Herzl has been mired in controversy since
construction began in 2006. The line passes through territory captured
by Israel in the Six-Day War and serves settlements in disputed areas
of East Jerusalem. Last year the Palestinian Liberation Organisation
took two members of the Red Line concessionaire Citypass, Veolia and
Alstom, to court in France in an attempt to halt work on the project on
the grounds that it may breach international law.
Disputes over
permits for access to construction sites also delayed construction, and
the Israeli government has been forced to compensate concessionaire
CityPass for lost revenues.
