Jerusalem extends Red Line tramway

 

The Israeli city of Jerusalem opened its first tramline of the modern era on 1 December 2011, 13.9km of standard-gauge line from Pisgat Ze’ev in the north to Mount Herzel in the south. Service was provided by 46 five-section Alstom Citadis low-floor trams, operating as coupled sets, from the depot at French Hill, carrying about 42M passengers/year. Work to extend the line at each end has been underway for a number of years with progress delayed by the turmoil in Israel/Palestine since October 2023. Tram service was suspended for five days from 9 February 2025 to permit test runs on the Red Line tramway extensions to Neve Yaakov (2.3km) and Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center (1.4km), that subsequently were due to open for passenger service on 21 February; however this was subject to last minute postponement, with opening finally taking place during the evening of 27 February (all public transport services were suspended on the evening of 20 February after a bomb attack on buses). 

 

The tramway is operated by the Cfir consortium (CAF and local company Shapir Engineering) under a 16-year concession starting in April 2021. CAF is supplying 114 Urbos 100 trams for the extensions to the Red Line and the future Green Line.