Remember how long it took to get the light rail running in Jerusalem? The original completion date of 2006 eventually became 2011, as gridlock ruled the roost in the capital for year upon year, and only cyclists and motorcyclists managed to weave their way to and fro with some degree of ease. Then again, there's the Jerusalem- Tel Aviv high-speed train line. This week, members of the public, families and all, got a sneak preview of progress being made on the route which, when completed – hopefully three years from now – will get Jerusalemites to Hagana station in Tel Aviv (and vice versa) in a mind-boggling 28 minutes. That's around one third of the time it currently takes, on the line that takes in a delightful, but gently paced, snaking route from Beit Shemesh through the Jerusalem hills. To call the high-speed line a megaproject would be almost tantamount to damning with faint praise. “This is a national project,” declares Batsheva Segev, manager of the High-Speed Railway visitors' center. “This is the flagship project of Israel Railways,” she adds with undisguised pride. We meet at the epicenter of the ambitious enterprise, close to the Sha'ar Hagai intersection. If you've driven along that section of Route 1 anytime in the last few years you will probably have caught a generous eyeful of massive mounds of earthwork detritus piled up several dozen meters. While the outsized heaps looked like something out of a sci-fi movie, they have come much further down to ground level of late. As we set off for a circuit of the nearby tunnel and Bridge 6 – all 1.2 km. of the latter across the Ayalon Valley near Modi'in – Segev explains the reason for the debris build up, and its ongoing shrinkage. “One of the main challenges of this project has been to create a route for the railway tracks. Of course, the quickest route is a straight line, and if you're going to go straight you need to build bridges and dig into the hills.” That requires the use of the best technology money can buy, and the statistics make for impressive reading. “Bridge 6 is the longest bridge in Israel. There are some tunnels here that are very complex, and very long. One is 11.6 km. long,” Segev notes. Bring on the tunnel boring machine, a.k.a. TBM. “The TBM is 150 meters long. It digs into the hill, breaks up the rock and expels the bits which are then incorporated in concrete segments which are used to line the tunnel.” That's a neat recycling maneuver, and there's another recovery and reuse element to the tunnel boring activity. “The piles of debris are reducing because they are being used to build roads and for other construction work around the country. We try not to waste anything here,” says Segev. As we approach a dual-bore tunnel from the east, Segev sheds some light on the green considerations woven into the megaproject. “You see them up there,” she says, pointing out several dozen rocks grouped together betwixt the polychromic springtime flora, “all the stones and rocks we shift to dig the tunnels are restored to their original positions. Every single one of them was photographed and numbered before they were moved. When we were about to start the project there were all kinds of environmental groups that expressed concern over what might happen to the ecosystems as a result of the work on the railway line, but look at this,” she says, drawing my attention to the lush vegetation covering the TBM tunnel. “If you saw that from above, do you think you'd get the idea that there's a 3.6.-km.-long tunnel underneath?” she asks. The question is clearly rhetorical. Mind you, if you're looking to revive verdancy it does your job no harm at all if you get the welcome amount of precipitation of the last winter. “Yes, we did well with the rain this year,” Segev admits. “Three months ago all this looked very different.” The Stage B tunnel provided a spectacular centerpiece of the family activities this week, with buses ferrying members of the public along the 3.6 km. subterranean route at the rate of 5 trips an hour. The idea of allowing the rank-and-file temporary access to the railway route proved to be a highly popular exercise. “We opened registration a few weeks ago, and we had 11,000 within a day,” says Segev. “In the end we allowed 13,000 to take part.” As the buses drove underground the patrons got a glimpse of the work in progress with the tunnel displayed in all its finery, lit up by laser beams and colorful LED lighting. Israel Railways is keen to keep the public on board and abreast of developments. “Our guides told the bus passengers about the work we are doing,” Segev notes. “This is a project for everyone in Israel.” That applies to the powers that be too. “There are lots of government ministries involved in the project,” Segev continues. “All this work, all these tunnels and bridges, all of this is designed to make life better in Israel.” That, as aforementioned, also entails keeping Mother Nature as undisturbed as humanly possible. After traveling a short distance outside, exiting the 3.6-km. tunnel, future passengers on the high-speed line will then go through a 1.2-km. tunnel, built using the conventional, non-TBM, detonation and digging method, emerging straight onto Bridge 8 that traverses the Yitla Valley. The original plan for the latter structure had to be revised following concerns voiced over the possible disruption to the local natural dynamics. “We originally designed the bridge with four supports but environmental groups said that would damage this beautiful valley,” explains Segev. A rethink was required and a stiff technological challenge was duly met. “In the end, Israel Railways constructed a 160-meter-long bridge with just one support,” notes the visitors' center manager. “It was an amazing engineering challenge, and an amazing piece of work.” All told, the route takes in 38 km. of tunnels and bridges, with the new line joining up with the existing tracks that run westward from Modi'in, with the split between old and new near the Anava interchange. Naturally, a project of this grand scale doesn't come cheap. “The total cost of the work is NIS 6.8 billion,” says Segev, which, it should be noted, is far greater than the original estimate of NIS 2.8b. Segev is also keen to stress the venture's all for one and one for all – not to mention stirringly patriotic – added value. “This is an Israel Railways project, but it is not just an Israel Railways story; it is the story of the whole of Israel,” she says. “This is a real pioneering project. I am here because of Zionism. This is a project designed to improve the quality of life of the citizen. The citizen is No. 1 here, not some political caprice. We are all in this together.”
(photo credit: COURTESY ISRAEL RAILWAYS)