Government Approves Cable Car to Kosel

The plan for a cable car to the Kosel came a step closer on Monday as the Housing Cabinet approved the one-mile route from the old Yerushalayim railway station to a point near the holy site, Globes reported.

An estimated 135,000 people visit the Old City each week, according to the Ministry of Tourism, which drew up the plan, which promises to improve access and relieve pedestrian congestion in the Old City.

The plan envisions 73 cars with the capacity to transport 3,000 people in each direction.

Starting from David Remez street outside the old Yerushalayim station, the cable car will travel above Givat Hatanakh and the Valley of Gehenna, skirt around the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion and above the Ein Hilweh neighborhood before arriving at a terminal near the Kosel.

Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon welcomed the decision, saying, “The Western Wall is not currently accessible enough to the public at large. For 2,000 years we waited for the Western Wall and it shouldn’t be that crowding and congestion will prevent people” from reaching it.

Yossi Saidov, co-organizer of 15 Minutes, for the promotion of public transportation, had a different reaction: “The cable car project won’t solve the problem of transport in the Old City but simply shift it to another place, and the old railway station will become a bottleneck. The proper solution for the Old City is to take out cars from there and adapt the roads for public transport. Regrettably, the Western Wall currently has a parking lot for cars.”