Regev says no Tel Aviv metro system unless cross-country rail okayed

Transportation Minister Miri Regev is reportedly demanding that ministers approve an NIS 100 billion ($27 billion) rail line from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat before she will agree to revive the metro rail system being built to relieve congestion in Tel Aviv.

According to the Ynet website, at the weekly cabinet meeting, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announces Regev’s Eilat project, Smotrich expressed pleasure that the metro element of Tel Aviv’s new subway and light rail network will finally be freed to resume moving toward its long-awaited opening.

“The state has plans for 20 million people in cities with strong infrastructure,” he’s quoted saying. “In the coming years, we’ll revive the project and link outlying areas to the center.”

But according to the report, Regev, sitting next to Smotrich, responded that he had the order wrong.

“The metro will be revived only when there is a Kiryat Shmona-Eilat line. The moment there is a government decision to link Israel and it earmarks NIS 2.5 billion [$675 million] for planning and moving the schedule up, the metro’s management will come back to life.”

Regev, who came into office with hopes of slaying the metro, announced in May that she was stripping the Metropolitan Mass Transit System, better known as NTA, of responsibility over the metro system, which will include three metro subway lines to complement three over-ground routes, essentially freezing the project weeks before its first line was slated to open.

Among the reasons given were repeated delays and cost overruns of NIS 3 billion ($828 million), according to a statement from her office at the time.