Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz rode the maiden voyage of the high-speed train line from Jerusalem to Ben-Gurion International Airport in Lod.
The line is expected, on completion, to revolutionise travel between Israel’s capital city in the eastern part of the country and Tel Aviv on Israel’s west coast.
The Yizhak Navon Station in Jerusalem (named after Israel’s first Sephardic president) is one of the five deepest train stations in the world, measuring 60 meters to 80 meters below street level.
The train includes double-decker coaches pulled by an electric locomotive.
The journey from Jerusalem to Ben-Gurion took a speedy 25 minutes, traveling at 120 to 130 kilometers per hour.
Travellers will be able to buy tickets on scheduled trains arriving and departing every 30 minutes starting on Sept. 23. Tickets will be free for the first three months of operation.
The train line is expected to reach Tel Aviv in another six months.
JNS