The Beersheba Light Rail is a planned

light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...

system for the city of

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. Plans for a light rail system in Beersheba, including in the master plan for the city, go back decades. In 1998, an agreement for the planning of a light rail system was signed and mayor

Yaakov Turner Yaakov Turner (; 27 February 1935 – 27 October 2024) was an Israeli general and politician who served as the mayor of Beersheba. Prior to his election as mayor, he was an Israel Air Force pilot and the country's Chief of Police. Turner was the ...

announced the following year that it would begin to run in 2003, but this did not happen.Beersheba to get its own light rail after 30 years of attempts
/ref> In 2008, the Israeli Finance Ministry contemplated freezing the

Tel Aviv Light Rail The Tel Aviv Light Rail (, Romanized: ''Ha'rakēvet Ha'kalā Be'Tel Avīv'', , Romanized: ''Qītar Tall ʾAbīb Al-khāfifa''), also known as Dankal (, ) is a mass transit system for Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in central Israel. T ...

project and building a light rail system in Beersheba instead but did not follow through. In 2014, mayor

Ruvik Danilovich Reuven "Ruvik" Danilovich (; born January 24, 1971) is an Israeli politician. In 2008, he was elected mayor of Beersheba, after serving as deputy mayor under Yaakov Turner. He was reelected in 2013 with 92.21% of the ballots, in November 2018 ...

announced that a light rail system would be built in the city. In 2017, the Ministry of Transport gave the Beersheba municipality approval to proceed with preliminary planning on a light rail system. On 14 August 2023, the light rail system was approved. Under the current plans, the light rail will consist of a single 25 kilometer long line. It will serve railway stations and the city's central bus station, the city center,

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) (, ''Universitat Ben-Guriyon baNegev'') is a public university, public research university in Beersheba, Israel. Named after Israeli List of national founders, national founder David Ben-Gurion, the unive ...

, and

Soroka Medical Center Soroka University Medical Center (, ''HaMerkaz HaRefu'i Soroka''), a part of the Clalit Health Services Group, is the general hospital of Beersheba, Israel, it serves as the central hospital of the region and provides medical services to approx ...

, and extend to neighboring communities, with the line's route parallel to

Highway 60 The following highways are numbered 60: International * Asian Highway 60 * European route E60 Australia * Bruxner Highway * Dawson Highway (Rolleston to Gladstone) – Queensland State Route 60 Brazil * BR-060 Canada * Alberta Highway 60 ...

, serving the military intelligence base complex being constructed at Likit which is expected to open in 2028, the towns of

Omer Omer may refer to: __NOTOC__ * Omer (unit), an ancient unit of measure used in the era of the ancient Temple in Jerusalem * The Counting of the Omer (''sefirat ha'omer''), a 49 day period in the Jewish calendar People * A variant spelling of the g ...

Lakiya Lakiya () or Laqye () is a Bedouin town (local council (Israel), local council) in the Southern District (Israel), Southern District of Israel. In it had a population of . History Lakiya was founded in 1985 as part of a government project to se ...

, and

Meitar Meitar () is a small local council north-east of Beersheba, in Israel's Southern District. The town lies on Highway 60 just south of the Green Line on the southern edge of Mount Hebron, alongside the Yatir Forest. Metar is 19 km north o ...

, and terminating at the Meitar Crossing near the Green Line. The location of the light rail's depot will be selected after an environmental impact assessment. The project is expected to be completed in 2033 and cost an estimated 8 billion NIS ($2.11 billion). Be’er Sheva light rail project to proceed
/ref>

References

{{Reflist Transport in Israel Transport in Beersheba Light rail in Israel Proposed rail infrastructure in Israel Proposed railway lines in Israel