First Purple Line railcars arrive in Haifa ahead of 2028 launch

The first four railcars for Tel Aviv’s Purple Line light rail arrived overnight at Haifa port, marking another milestone in the project ahead of its planned opening in June 2028. The cars were manufactured by CAF in Spain and Britain, and will be moved in the coming days to the Pilots Depot, the line’s operations and maintenance center, for intake, testing and commissioning.

More cars are due to arrive over the next few months, bringing the fleet to 94 railcars in total. The arrival shifts the project from infrastructure and systems work into operational readiness and trial runs, which are set to begin next year, first on the eastern section between the depot and the Yehud and Or Yehuda area.

The Purple Line will run 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 Hevel Modiin regional council. NTA says it expects about 260,000 passengers a day, or 77 million a year, even as the Red Line still carries only about 120,000 daily riders instead of the promised 250,000.

According to NTA, all Infra 1 work along the route is complete, while rail laying, station construction, and installation of electrification, signaling and control systems are continuing. The Pilots Depot covers about 150 dunams and will handle maintenance, safety checks, storage and continuous operation prep. NTA CEO Itamar Ben Meir said the arrival of the first railcars is “a significant milestone” and shows the project is gradually moving from construction to launch preparation.