Light Rail to Be Extended to Yerushalayim Suburbs

The next phase of the Jerusalem Light Rail will ferry travelers out of town – to places like Maale Adumim, Givat Ze’ev and Adam, all located outside the 1948 armistice lines, in areas liberated by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Transport Ministry has approved the plan to expand the light rail to these areas, a report on Channel Two said. The Ministry has confirmed the report. When approval is given and money allocated, four lines will link the city’s suburbs beyond the green line with Yerushalayim.

Other lines will be laid west, with residents of Mevasseret Tziyon and the Yerushalayim Corridor communities able to reach the city via light rail. Future lines will bring Gush Etzion and Beit Shemesh within light rail commuting distance of Yerushalayim.

“I see Yerushalayim and Greater Yerushalayim as a single unit from a transportation point of view,” said Transport Minister Yisrael Katz. “Residents of Gush Etzion, Binyamin, Maale Adumim, Beit Shemesh and Mevasseret Tziyon are daily stuck in enormous traffic jams. They deserve to receive transportation services like everyone else. We obviously do not accept the argument that the artificial ‘green line’ should be a border over which public transportation never venture,” he added.