A new metropolitan light rail system train on a test run passes through the Jaffa district of Tel Aviv. The new rail line is expected to cater to 70 million passengers a year.
Photographer: Corinna Kern/BloombergOne of the World’s Most Expensive Cities Is Finally Getting a Metro
Tel Aviv’s new red line took more than two decades to build, rather than the six years intended. The full train project, though, is still far off and will cost tens of billions of dollars more.
Tel Aviv boasts a 9-mile-long seashore with sprawling beaches, 4,000 Bauhaus buildings, the old port city of Jaffa, some of the world’s best restaurants, a sizzling housing market—and the greatest traffic congestion among all Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries.
A light-rail system that opened on Friday is the first step toward relieving some of that congestion. A new line is running 24 kilometers (15 miles), with 34 stops from Tel Aviv’s southern suburbs through the city and out to its eastern suburbs, serving an area with a population of about 1.25 million. It will carry an estimated 234,000 passengers a day—mainly commuters—at an introductory ticket price of 5.50 shekels ($1.45) for up to 15 kilometers.