Sources inform "Globes" that the State Comptroller will charge Israel Railways with responsibility for the 8-10 year delay in completing the fast rail link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in his forthcoming annual report.

State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss found that although the government gave the go ahead for the project in 2001, Israel Railways did not present a detailed plan until mid-2004. The State Comptroller also found that Israel Railways created facts on the ground for the Ministry of Finance, which resulted in the project going way above the original budget.

The State Comptroller also charged Israel Railways with presenting false information about alternative routes to environmental protestors.

The section of the line from Ben Gurion Airport to the Anava Junction near Modiin is already built, and when fully completed trains will travel at 160 kilometers per hour, and the journey between Israel's two largest cities will take less than 30 minutes.

The Tel Aviv Jerusalem line is scheduled for completion by 2016, but at the present rate of implementation, it will not be operational until 2018, 17 years after the government launched the project.

Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on March 22, 2010

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