Metro line cut down after Ra’anana, Kfar Saba objections

The National Planning Commission has approved a request from the Department of Transportation and the NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd. to split the plan for the construction of the M1 metro line so that it ends near the Glilot junction in Ramat Hasharon. The route to the north will in future be presented in a separate plan, due to objections from Ra’anana and Kfar Saba municipalities against the proposed alignment and a planned depot.

The Ministry of Transport insists that the northern section has not been canceled but will be approved at a later date. The ministry denies that the reason is opposition from the municipalities, which even got MKs, mainly from Yesh Atid, to join their protests.

Ra’anana Municipality is protesting that the line is running close to some of its healthier neighborhoods and lobbies for the line to be redirected to the area around Loewenstein Hospital. Kfar Saba Municipality is adamant against building the depot near the Kfar Saba Hayaroka neighborhood. Hod Hasharon Municipality also has objections to the route and had suggested alternatives.

This is not the first time that municipalities in the Sharon region are thwarting public transport projects. Ra’anana Mayor Chaim Broyde has persistently opposed bus lanes in Ahuza Street, the city’s main thoroughfare, though that means buses continue to crawl along the congested street. A decade ago, the Pink Line express bus was scrapped following objections from Ra’anana and Kfar Saba and replaced by the Metro.

The mayors of Ra’anana and Kfar Saba wrote to Transport Minister Merav Michaeli: “We all support the metro project and see great importance in it, but it must take into account the components of the municipal plan and the needs of the residents of our cities.”

The M1 line is the longest of the three planned metro lines. The track will stretch over 85 kilometers with 65 stations. Two branch lines in the south will connect Rehovot / Ness Ziona and Lod / Beer Yaakov with Rishon Lezion, Holon, central Tel Aviv, Ramat Hasharon and Herzliya with branch lines to Kfar Saba and Ra’anana in the north. But in the first stage, the line ends in Glilot in Ramat Hasharon.

Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on May 2, 2022.

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