JERUSALEM, Dec. 18 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Thursday laid the cornerstone for the Tel Aviv metropolitan area metro project, a multibillion-dollar underground rail network billed as the "largest infrastructure project" in the country's history, the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Transport Minister Miri Regev attended the ceremony at the Segula depot site in Petah Tikva, part of the planned M2 line, marking the formal start of construction work on the project.
The metro network is planned to include three main lines -- M1, M2, and M3 -- spanning about 150 kilometers, with 109 underground stations across 24 local authorities in central Israel, from Kfar Saba and Ra'anana in the north to Rehovot and Lod in the south.
The network is expected to operate with more than 1,000 rail cars and will be powered by a dedicated power station supplying electricity to the entire system, the ministry said.
Once operational, the system is expected to carry up to 2 million passengers a day, or around 850 million annually, according to government estimates, and to integrate with existing rail, light rail and bus services.
Israel is investing about 150 billion shekels (47 billion U.S. dollars) in the project, according to NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System, the state-owned transit company developing it.
Officials say it could generate annual savings of about 25 billion shekels for the economy by cutting congestion and travel times.
"This project will change Israel's transportation map and place us among the world's leading infrastructure initiatives," Regev said in a statement, adding that the metro would reduce congestion and travel times in the country's most densely populated region.
The ministry said it hopes the project will also support urban renewal and economic development across central Israel.
Planning and preparatory work on the metro project began in October 2025, while Thursday's ceremony marked the start of on-the-ground construction at the site. ■
