After years of clashes, protests and attempts to halt construction, the Jerusalem light rail stations were installed this morning (Tuesday) on Bar Ilan Street.
The construction work for the Green Line of the light rail on Bar Ilan Street has become in recent years a focal point of sharp confrontations between the authorities and extremist circles in Jerusalem who oppose running the train through the heart of chareidi neighborhoods. Violent protests erupted over abd oevr again, during which damage was caused to infrastructure, equipment and work sites.
The scope of the economic damage has already reached hundreds of millions of shekels. According to reports published over the years, the state was required to transfer hundreds of millions of shekels to repair damage from the riots and to guard the work sites. Last July, the cumulative damage to the project was estimated at approximately 600 million shekels, and that the work was delayed by two years as a result of damage to infrastructure.
Despite this, the work continues and the installation of the stations on Bar Ilan Street marks further progress in the project. The Green Line, whose planned length is approximately 20 kilometers, is expected to connect Har HaTzofim in the north of the city to the Gilo neighborhood in the south, and to serve hundreds of thousands of passengers daily in the future.
Even now, after the stations have been placed, the extremists insist that they will not allow the light rail to pass through Bar Ilan Street.
