The Knesset State Control Committee visited the building site of the Tel-Aviv-Jerusalem express train, where Israeli Railways CEO Boaz Tzafrir announced that the line will be up and running by March 2018.
The new electric line will provide 30-minute transit time between Israel's two largest cities.
Tzafrir told MKs that the train project would be completed as planned by the end of 2017, with commercial operations beginning three months later, in March 2018. The electric trains will run at a speed of 160 km. per hour, (99.4 mph), with up to four trains operating per hour during peak times of the day.
To compare transit times, the current train route from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv features multiple stops, bypasses Jerusalem's Central Bus Station and takes roughly 90 minutes. By bus, the current distance is roughly 45 minutes from station to station - but can take much longer during morning and evening rush-hour traffic.
