The fight over the operation of the “red line” of the light rail reaches the High Court: The Deputy Mayor of Tel Aviv, Attorney Reuven Lediansky, a member of the Tel Aviv Municipality Council, Attorney Avraham Porez and the “Chai-Secular Greens” faction in the council, petitioned the High Court today (Wednesday), requesting the issuance of a conditional order, which orders the servant Transportation Mirev Michaeli, to justify why it will not use its authority and order to operate the “red line” also on Saturdays and holidays.
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“We are preparing for an exciting and defining event, the ‘red line’ is expected to start operating in Gush Dan. This is a large financial investment (approximately NIS 18 billion, M.C.) and eight years of work, excavations, roadblocks and nuisances to the public and businesses,” noted Ladiansky. According to him, the Minister of Transportation and Prime Minister Yair Lapid do not really want the light rail to really operate on Shabbat, because otherwise they would have already decided on it.
“It is a scandal that, probably due to foreign political considerations of ‘investment’ in the ultra-orthodox parties, tens of thousands of citizens will remain locked up in their homes on weekends, they will be deprived of freedom of movement and many of the owners of private vehicles who wish to give them up will not really be able to do so,” he further claimed to Diansky – “the decision to activate The rekal on weekends and holidays is in the hands of the Minister of Transportation and I demand that she move to actions. I believe that the High Court will accede to the demands of the petition and thus the historic decision of operating light rail on weekends will be made.
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The petition claims, among other things: “It is clear that the immediate victims of the lack of public transportation from Friday afternoon to Saturday evening are those who do not have private vehicles, either because their financial situation does not allow them to purchase a vehicle or because they do not have a driver’s license for such reasons or others. Beyond that, shutting down public transportation for a significant portion of the time will lead to the potential of preventing air pollution and reducing traffic congestion on the roads not being exhausted.” As you may recall, Michaeli demanded about a month ago to operate the light rail on Saturdays and holidays.
Her office stated in response to the petition: “There is no need for a petition to the High Court, the thing that will allow the light rail to operate on Shabbat is the consent of Prime Minister Yair Lapid. This move has a majority in the government. This move has a majority in the public and I am happy to have support and backing from representatives in the local government. We must not miss this historic window of opportunity.”
The deadline set for the activation of the “red line” is November 30. However, due to malfunctions in the signaling system during the test trips, which cause sudden stops, it is still not clear what the final date will be.
The NTA clarified that after the formation of experts’ opinions, it will be determined when the light rail will start operating on commercial trips and clarified that this is in the near future.