Outsourced rails (Illustration)
Photo: Alex Kolomoysky
Transportation minister: Railway services to be privatized
Yisrael Katz says unless Israel Railway expedites its development plans, meets more deadlines, he will outsource some of its projects
Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz said recently that unless Israel Railway steps up its railway tracks development, he will defer some of its budgets to private railway companies.
Katz has already said that he intends on outsourcing some of the Israel Railway development programs, either to private companies or to government ones, unless their implementations is expedited.
The Transportation Ministry has allotted NIS 50 billion (Approx. $12.58 billion) for railway projects through to 2020.
Roadblocks
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Katz said he wants public transportation, including bus lines, trains and light trains, to become a top priority, but added he has found that many of the projects are not advancing in a satisfactory rate, and so he intends to monitor their progress personally.
"My feeling is that unless I'm vigilant things are going to take too long. I intend to follow things and make sure they get done," he said. "There are so many plans and things are complex, so our test will be the implementation."
Both the light train projects in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are facing serious delays, and Israel, he said, is one of the few countries without a light train in its major cities.
Katz would also like to see an improvement in bus services, saying his office has been instructed to make public transportation lanes on highways, enforcement and bus-stop upgrades a top priority.
