Crossrail bosses to advise Israel on building £33bn Tel Aviv metro
Bosses of Crossrail are to advise on a new state-of-the-art £33bn metro system for the Israeli city of Tel Aviv.
Transport secretary Grant Shapps is in Israel this week and has met his counterpart, agreeing the deal as part of a post-Brexit memorandum of understanding signed earlier in the summer.
This comes after the completion of the Crossrail project this year, now called the Elizabeth Line, which is said to pump £42bn into the UK economy and support more than 55,000 jobs. This week it was announced the Elizabeth Line’s direct service from Reading and Heathrow to central London would launch this week.
Israel and Britain agreed to upgrade their trading partnership, currently worth about £5bn, in a move which electric bring black cabs to the streets of the Mediterranean country.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the “partnership further ingrains our commitment to a global Britain, helping our world-leading rail industry to extend its expertise to friends overseas, while unlocking fresh business opportunities to boost the UK economy.”
“Following the successful launch of our iconic Elizabeth Line earlier this year, this memorandum is a fantastic opportunity for our British engineers and advisors to share their ingenuity with Israel as they undertake their largest ever rail project in Tel Aviv.”
“It was a pleasure to visit the project site this week to see first-hand the ongoing work to build such a revolutionary transport hub which will help millions of passengers get from A to B quicker, easier and more sustainably.”
After the UK’s decision to leave the EU, it has sought trading partnerships with countries outside of the union, including the US, India, Mexico and Israel.
Minister of Transport and Road Safety for Israel, Merav Michaeli, called transport “a national security issue” in the county, and that entering “into agreements with other countries that make Israel stronger” is in its interest.
She thanked Shapps and praised the “ground-breaking cooperation” between Britain and Israel.
Israel’s ambassador to the UK, Tzipi Hotovely, said: “Our collaboration will see the very best of British ingenuity and Israeli innovative spirit coming together to undertake ground-breaking rail projects in Israel.”
“I look forward to seeing Britons and Israelis ride on Tel Aviv’s new rail line in the near future.”