JERUSALEM, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The first public test drive of Tel Aviv's light rail in Israel was carried out on Thursday, Israeli state-owned company NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System said.
The drive was conducted with an electric train developed and manufactured by the Chinese company CRRC Changchun Railway Vehicles Co., which won an Israeli government tender for supplying the carriages.
In April 2019, the CRRC successfully tested the model in China's northeastern city of Changchun, and the first carriages arrived in Israel in November of that year.
The test drive in Israel was conducted along the Red Line, first of three lines in the project, scheduled to start operating in November 2022.
The first line will pass through five cities, in the most congested regions of Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area. The length of the line is 24 km, 11 km of which is in tunnels.
The red line will include 34 stations along its route, with 24 above ground and 10 underground.
The construction of the tunnels, tracks and stations on this line, as well as the electrical and communication systems, were carried out by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) and the Chinese partnership CRTG-EEB, together with the Israeli companies Solel Boneh and Danya Cebus.
Israel's Minister of Transport Miri Regev said that "the test drive was exciting, the light rail is real great news for the residents of the area. It will be possible to travel comfortably and quietly to work, instead of spending many hours on the roads." Enditem
