Plans for two additional high-speed train lines on the Tel Aviv-Haifa lines were announced on Monday by the National Infrastructure Committee, headed by Shlomi Heisler.
A trip with the proposed lines from the Carmel Coast station in Haifa to Tel Aviv will reportedly take 30 minutes with one stop in Hadera. A trip from Nahariya to Tel Aviv will take 54 minutes, just a little over half of the current hour and 40 minutes.
"This is a plan that will propel the entire Haifa metropolis forward: a fast and efficient electric train connection from the heart of the metropolis to the high-speed train network," said Heisler. "The plan will make the city of Haifa accessible to the sea, encourage urban renewal and lead to a significant addition of housing units and open spaces in the heart of the city of Haifa. "
"This is important news for the city of Haifa," said Nava Alinsky-Radei, a planner for the National Infrastructure Committee at the Planning Administration. "They will move inside the city of Haifa underground. Now the city will be able to plan its urban future, when there is certainty about the route of the highway."
The proposed lines will use a high-speed train of a type that still isn't available in the county.
The plans to double the coastal railway between the Carmel Coast station in Haifa and Shefayim were approved in December and opened for public comments.