Israel’s transport minister is pushing ahead with a controversial plan to extend Jerusalem’s soon-to-open high-speed rail line to the Western Wall, where he wants to name a station after the US president, Donald Trump.
Yisrael Katz’s proposal for the “Donald John Trump” station, which is in the initial planning stage, involves constructing two underground stations and excavating more than two miles (3km) of tunnel 50 metres beneath central Jerusalem and under the politically and historically sensitive Old City.
The Western Wall is the holiest site where Jews can pray, and the new station would be located near the Jewish Quarter’s “Cardo”, an ancient thoroughfare a few dozen metres from the wall.
The Cardo – meaning “heart” – was Jerusalem’s main street 1,500 years ago, paved in the 2nd century by Hadrian and later extended south to the area of today’s Jewish Quarter in the 6th century by Justinian.
A spokesman for the transport ministry, Avner Ovadia, said the project was estimated to cost more than $700m (£522m) and, if approved, would take four years to complete.
The Tel Aviv-Jerusalem rail project is expected to cost about $1.8bn and is estimated to cut travel time to 28 minutes, down from 78 minutes on the old line built during the days of the Ottoman empire.
