Government-owned company NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System today conducted the first-ever official test run of a train on the Red Line of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area light rail (Dankal). The project has encountered many delays but is scheduled to begin operating in November 2022, Trend reports with reference to Globes.
As part of the test run, the train left the Shacham station at the junction of Jabotinsky and Rabin Streets in Petah Tikva and traveled eastwards.
Minister of Transport Miri Regev attended today's event and traveled on the train. She said, "This is another stage on the way to inaugurating the light rail in November 2022. The Dankal light rail network will change the entire complexion of travel in the jammed Dan region."
She said that the jams was one of the main issues being handled by the Ministry of Transport. Regev will be stepping down as Minister of Transport next week after the new government is sworn in. "We will have the smoothest possible handover," she said.
NTA CEO Haim Glik said that the company is committed to operating the most "advanced" light rail with the "high frequency on the line." Glik told "Globes" that the target is that there should be three and a half minutes between each train on the light rail line, with each train being able to accommodate up to 500 passengers.
The Red Line will have 34 stations on 24 kilometers of track from Petah Tikva via Tel Aviv to Bat Yam, of which 11 kilometers between the Geha Interchange and Neve Tzedek in Tel Aviv will be underground.