History in Gush Dan: Tel Aviv Light Rail officially opens

(A7) The red line of the Light Rail in Gush Dan officially opened on Friday morning.

At 5:40 a.m., three trains left at the same time from the three departure stations of the route: Bat Yam–Komemiyut, Petah Tikva-Central Station and Kiryat Aryeh.

At the station in Bat Yam, a short ceremony was held, in which a certificate was awarded to the first passenger of the new Light Rail: 70-year-old Kuti Elazar.

The red line of the Light Rail will pass through Bat Yam, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Petah Tikva and will serve about 70 million passengers a year.

The train will pass through each of its 36 stations once every six minutes on average, and not every three minutes as initially promised. Since each train is expected to hold up to 500 people, there will be ten trains per hour that can hold about 5,000 passengers.

The Light Rail will operate on weekdays from 5:00 a.m., and will end its activity between 11:00 p.m. and midnight. On Fridays, it will cease operations three hours before Shabbat. The train will resume operations about an hour after the conclusion of Shabbat.

On Friday, passengers will be allowed to ride for free, but a fare will be charged as of Saturday night: The fare will range from five and a half shekels for a ride on some sections of the route, and 12 shekels for a ride along the entire route.