Driverless Metro Plans Transform Tel Aviv’s Gush Dan Corridor

The Metropolitan Mass Transit System (NTA) is advancing a fully automated metro for the Gush Dan metropolitan area. The network will comprise three lines spanning roughly 150 km, with 109 underground stations linking 24 local authorities from Rehovot to Kfar Saba. Trains are designed to run every 90 seconds, enabling a capacity of about 2 million passengers per day and an annual ridership of more than 600 million trips.

The Jerusalem PostGlobes

NTA has issued pre-qualification (PQ) tenders for “Infra 2,” covering trains, carriages, signalling, electricity and system operation, valued at an overall NIS 30 billion. The earlier “Infra 1” civil-infrastructure stage was valued at about NIS 65 billion. Twenty consortia—33 companies from Israel and abroad—have submitted PQ requests, each required to pair foreign and Israeli firms, with a particular emphasis on Israeli cyber-security expertise. The tender will be issued as a single package per line, integrating trains, signalling, control, power and maintenance services. While the advanced GOA4 driverless technology may limit the pool of qualified international bidders, NTA is actively seeking to broaden participation. Chinese firms are not formally excluded from the process.

Globes

NTA projects that the driverless system will cut operating costs by roughly NIS 150 million annually by eliminating the need to recruit about 1,000 metro drivers—a notable advantage amid a shortage of public-transport operators. The total project cost is estimated at approximately NIS 175 billion. By providing a high-frequency, high-capacity alternative, the metro is expected to alleviate worsening traffic congestion, allowing commuters to reside farther from workplaces while maintaining short travel times.

The Jerusalem Post

NTA’s chief executive, Itamar Ben-Meir, described the metro as one of the world’s most complex infrastructure projects and emphasized the search for “the best partners” to deliver it. Moshe Ben-Zaken, director general of the Ministry of Transport, affirmed the government’s commitment to delivering an “advanced, reliable and safe” metro that will reshape national transport and bolster the economy for decades to come.

Globes

Construction of the related Tel Aviv light-rail segment was documented on May 21, 2026. NTA plans to publish the infrastructure tenders for Infra 2 by the end of the current year, with the system-level tender for trains and operations slated for release roughly a year later. The first visible infrastructure works for Infra 2 are expected toward the end of 2028 and early 2029. The Ministry of Transport, NTA and partner entities will continue promoting the project as outlined in a statement scheduled for August 24, 2026.

Globes