Jerusalem's long-awaited light railway splits opinion

[John Ashworth]

Jerusalem's long-awaited light railway splits opinion

Some critics say project's completion is latest example of tightening Israeli grip on Arab east of city

Harriet Sherwood in Jerusalem
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 August 2011 16.46 BST

After a decade of disruption, missed deadlines, bust budgets and a clamour of criticism, the first passengers will on Friday step aboard the sleek silver carriages of Jerusalem's long-awaited light railway.

The project's many critics include those who believe that, in a city with a long history of bombings, the new light railway is vulnerable to attack. There are others who claim it is the latest example of the tightening Israeli grip on the Arab east of the city, part of an attempt to create an indivisible Jerusalem.

But many exasperated residents are simply sceptical. "We'll believe it when we're sitting on the train and it's moving," is a common view.

For the city authorities and CityPass, the consortium operating the system, it will be a celebratory moment that at times seemed would never arrive. "It is a big day, a kind of dream that comes true," said Nadav Meroz of the Jerusalem Transportation Master Plan (JTMP).

To begin with, the service will be limited. Instead of the scheduled 42 minutes from one end of the line to the other, it will take 65 minutes because only a third of traffic lights along the route have been upgraded to give automatic priority to oncoming trains.

For the first two weeks it will also be free after the ticketing system collapsed in trials. The JTMP hopes this will encourage use in the early days.

The project was conceived in the mid-1990s to relieve traffic congestion, encourage public transport use, reduce pollution and redevelop the city centre, according to the JTMP. It would comprise a network of eight lines and connect with bus services and park-and-ride facilities.

Construction began 10 years ago with the rerouting of utilities infrastructure along the eight miles of the first – and so far, only – line, running from Pisgat Ze'ev, a Jewish settlement in East Jerusalem, to Mount Herzel in the west.

"The residents of Jerusalem paid the price with broken legs and ruined businesses," said Gerard Heumann, an architect, town planner and a vocal critic of the project. "The construction wreaked havoc over the city for a decade."

Heumann argues that the light rail is wholly inappropriate for a small city such as Jerusalem (population 800,000), and that upgrading the existing bus network would have been cheaper, more flexible, safer and more efficient.

As it happens, buses have been rerouted away from Jaffa Street, a central artery through the city which is now closed to road traffic, causing massive congestion and pollution in the surrounding area.

"Jerusalem's entire transport system has forcibly been reconstructed to support a single line for a luxurious and fashionable but entirely inappropriate transport technology, while commuters' real needs and concerns have been totally ignored," Heumann wrote in Haaretz last month.

This has been compounded by botched management of the project, he claimed, which led to rising costs and delays. According to CityPass, the final cost of the project is almost double the original estimate of just over 2bn shekels (£34m), and it was originally scheduled to be completed five years ago.

Heumann also raised concerns about the security of the system. Jerusalem's buses were frequently targeted by suicide bombers during the second Palestinian intifada 10 years ago and, he says, the light railway could be vulnerable if there was a return to violence.

"People in Pisgat Ze'ev [a Jewish settlement] are concerned that they will [now] go through Palestinian areas to get into the city," he said.

But critics from a Palestinian perspective believe the routing of the line from Pisgat Ze'ev through the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Beit Hanina and Shu'afat was part of a deliberate plan to link the East Jerusalem settlement to the city centre, consolidate Israel's grip on the eastern part of the city that Palestinians want as a capital of their future state, and present Jerusalem as an undivided city.

"Why was the light rail routed through Palestinian neighbourhoods?", said Daniel Seieman, a leftwing lawyer in the city. "To serve the myth that Jerusalem is the undivided capital of Israel. It is a $100m white elephant created to be compatible with the political myths about Jerusalem rather than meeting the urban needs of the city."

Omar Barghouti, a Palestinian who supports boycotts and sanctions against Israel, said the purpose of the railway was "to make the colonial settlements far more attractive by cutting travel time to the city centre". Providing such transport services to the settlements was, he said, illegal under international law.

A boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign targeted the French company Veolia over its stake in the project. Veolia has announced its intention to sell its 5% share, though its contractual obligations mean it cannot immediately withdraw. This month Veolia announced a €67m (£59m) net loss for the first half of the year.

The company's financial troubles should be a "big lesson" to companies investing in settlement activities, said Barghouti. "There is a price tag associated with complicity with Israel's violations of international law," he added. "Companies which are complicit must pay a heavy price."

Critics of the light railway can also be found among Jerusalem's powerful ultra-orthodox community, who last year unsuccessfully demanded some carriages be segregated along gender lines so that men and women would not be forced into close proximity. Like all public transport in the city, the light railway will not run on the Jewish sabbath.

The JTMP insists the railway will serve all communities in Jerusalem: "men, women, Arab, Christian and Jew", said Meroz. Muslims in the north and east of the city will be able to travel quickly to pray at mosques in the Old City, he added. "Our project is for all communities, it's a solution for everyone."

The light railway is no more vulnerable to attack than any other form of transport, he said. "The level of terror in Jerusalem and all over Israel has gone down, and we have security," he said. "You have to live according to your vision, not your fear."

• This article has been amended to correct language inconsistent with Guardian editorial guidelines