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The High-speed railway to Eilat (Med-Red) is a proposed Israeli railway that will enable the connection of the main Israeli population centres and Mediterranean ports to the southern city of Eilat on the Red Sea coast, as well as serve commercial freight between the Mediterranean Sea (city of Ashdod) and Red Sea (Eilat). The railway will spur southward from the existing rail line at Beersheba, and continue through Dimona to the Arava, Ramon Airport and Eilat, at a speed〔http://en.econostrum.info/A-high-speed-rail-connection-for-new-ports-at-Ashdod-and-Eilat_a362.html〕 of 350kph (218MPH). Its length will be roughly 260 km of electrified double-track rail (not including the Tel Aviv – Beersheba section, an additional 100 km). Work is expected to be completed by 2019,〔 with the southern end to be coordinated with the new Ramon Airport. The railway is expected to serve both passengers and freight, including minerals mined from the Negev Desert. The high-speed passenger service will carry travelers from Tel Aviv to Eilat in two hours or less with one intermediate stop (at the Beersheba North Railway Station), and with a slower service offering from Beersheba to Eilat, stopping at a number of towns and villages in the Arava. The freight service will serve as an alternative to the Suez Canal, allowing countries in Asia to pass goods to Europe through Israel. The line is part of a greater plan to turn Eilat into a metropolitan area numbering 150,000 residents, as well as 〔 relocating the Port of Eilat 5km further inland. ==Background== Eilat is located far away from Israel's main population centres, yet serves as an important tourist city and has a strategic location as Israel's only access point to the Red Sea.〔〔 Historically it has been connected to the rest of the country with poor transportation infrastructure. Both roads to Eilat—Highway 90 and Road 12—have been the scenes of frequent traffic accidents and in some cases terrorist attacks, though in recent years these roads are finally being upgraded. Numerous proposals for such a railway were brought up over the years. A line was planned after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, but plans were cancelled in 1952 due to security concerns. In 1955, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion again decided to build such a railway, and the French expressed interest in the project, just before the Suez Crisis. The idea was again discussed in the 1960s and 70s, and in the 1980s an Australian fund submitted a concrete proposal for funding the construction (at the time estimated at USD 250 million). The transportation minister Haim Corfu appointed a committee that recommended starting construction immediately. The government again turned to France to develop the railway. In the 1990s and 2000s, various transportation ministers, including Yisrael Keisar, Meir Sheetrit, Avigdor Lieberman and Shaul Mofaz, promised that such a railway would be built as quickly as possible.〔 In light of the above, developing Eilat had national importance, and in the 2010s the Israeli government decided to promote a major project that would see a new port and airport built in the city, and a railway, upgraded highway and light rail for connectivity.〔 The plan would see Eilat turn into a metropolitan area numbering 150,000 residents.〔 Israeli Middle East expert Guy Bechor wrote that the importance of the project was underestimated, and that it would put Israel back on the global trade map.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「High-speed railway to Eilat」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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