First Purple Line Light Rail Cars Arrive at Haifa Port

Late Sunday night, the first four rail cars for the Purple Line of the Tel Aviv-area light rail arrived at Haifa Port. Their arrival came a day after reports that masked activists identifying as pro-Palestinian had vandalized six other Purple Line cars at CAF’s facility in Spain, where the line is being built with Shapir. NTA said there is no risk of delay, stressing that the damaged cars are different from those that reached Israel and that the harm can be repaired quickly.

The cars that arrived in Israel will be transferred in the coming weeks to the HaTayasim depot for intake, inspections, and preparation for trial runs. They were manufactured by CAF plants in Spain and Britain. According to the company, unloading them from the Neptune ship operated by Mano Cruise involved a major logistics operation, while Haifa Port said it prepared ahead of time through planning, coordination with all relevant parties, and tailored operational solutions.

More cars are due to arrive in the coming months, bringing the total to 94 cars manufactured by CAF for NTA. The HaTayasim depot, covering about 150 dunams, will serve as the Purple Line’s operations, maintenance, and control center, where routine servicing, safety checks, storage, and preparations for continuous, safe, and efficient service will be carried out.

The Purple Line will run for about 29 kilometers and include 46 stations across 10 local authorities: Tel Aviv-Yafo, Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Givat Shmuel, Kiryat Ono, Savyon, Or Yehuda, Yehud-Monosson, Petah Tikva, and the Modi'in area. It is expected to carry about 260,000 passengers a day and 77 million a year, linking residential, employment, commercial, education, health, and leisure centers across the metropolitan region.