Red Line (Jerusalem Light Rail)

Red Line (Jerusalem Light Rail) הרכבת הקלה בירושלים
Light Rail on Chords Bridge
Overview
Type	Tram
Status	Opened
Locale	Jerusalem
Termini	Israel Air Force Street Mount Herzl
Stations	23
Services	1 (Pisgat Ze'ev – Mount Herzl)
Daily ridership	130,000 (2013)
Website	www.citypass.co.il
Operation
Opened	August 19, 2011 (free trial service) December 1, 2011 (full revenue service)
Owner	CityPass Consortium
Operator(s)	CityPass
Depot(s)	French Hill depot
Rolling stock	Alstom Citadis 302
Technical
Line length	13.8 km (8.6 mi)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	750 V DC OHLE
Operating speed	50 km/h (31 mph) maximum
Route map Red Line Leah Goldberg Tabenkin Neve Yaakov South Mazal Shor 'Heil Ha-Avir (Air Force Street) Sayeret Duchifat Pisgat Ze'ev Center Yekuti'el Adam Beit Hanina Shuafat Es-Sahl depot Giv'at HaMivtar Ammunition Hill Shimon HaTzadik Shivtei Israel Damascus Gate Safra Square (City Hall) Jaffa – Center Ha-Davidka Mahane Yehuda Market Ha-Turim Central Station Kiryat Moshe He-'Haluts Denia Square Yefeh Nof Mount Herzl Shmaryahu Levin Haaim Habib Haddassa Medical School Hadassah Medical Center This diagram:

The red line is the first section in operation of the tram system in Jerusalem, known as the Jerusalem Light Rail. It became fully operational on December 1, 2011. The line is 13.9 kilometers (8.6 mi) long with 23 stops. Extensions to the red line are currently under construction to the northern suburb of Neve Yaakov and to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital to the southwest. When completed in 2018, these will extend the line's length to 22.5 km.

With a total estimated cost for the initial section of the line of 3.8 billion NIS (approx. US $1.1 billion), the project was criticized for budget overruns, for its route serving Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem and for contributing to air and noise pollution during construction.

Initial extensions to the Red Line were planned to the neighborhoods of Neve Yaakov in northern East Jerusalem and Ein Karem (near Hadassah Hospital) in the southwest. Former mayor Uri Lupolianski stated that they would be completed at the same time as the rest of the line. In 2008, French company Egis Rail won an 11.9 million Euro contract to carry out some of the design work. However, in March 2009, CityPass turned down implementing the project. In May 2010 the Jerusalem Municipality announced that the extensions would be built by the state authorities rather than a private company. The extension to Hadassah Hospital from Mount Herzl is particularly challenging and will involve a complex path with complicated bridging works. As of summer 2012, while works on the extension have not begun, the line's final terminal station, next to Hadassah's new inpatient building is nevertheless being built during the construction of the inpatient building – in order not to disrupt hospital operations later after the new building will be completed. Also planned are branches to the Red Line that would create a "campus line" connecting the Mount Scopus and Givat Ram campuses of the Hebrew University.