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UK deal with Israel will ‘boost’ rail industry

August 25, 2022 at 3:48 pm

Commuters wait for platform information at Waterloo Station on November 29, 2021 in London, England [Dan Kitwood/Getty Images]

The UK transport secretary signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Israeli transport ministry yesterday, which will see the start of new business and job opportunities within the rail industry.

The new partnership will also enable the two countries to share expertise on large-scale rail projects.

The deal comes as part of Grant Shapps, the transport secretary’s trip to Israel this week, where he visited the building site of Tel Aviv’s new light rail line and met with the Israeli Transport Minister Merav Michaeli.

He said: “Today’s partnership further ingrains our commitment to a global Britain, helping our world-leading rail industry to extend its expertise to friends overseas, while unlocking fresh business opportunities to boost the UK economy. ”

“This memorandum is a fantastic opportunity for our British engineers and advisors to share their ingenuity with Israel as they undertake their largest ever rail project in Tel Aviv. ”

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“It was a pleasure to visit the project site this week to see first-hand the ongoing work to build such a revolutionary transport hub which will help millions of passengers get from A to B quicker, easier and more sustainably.”

Negotiations for the deal began last month, and it is said to be worth £5 billion ($5.9 billion) and will support 6,600 UK businesses.

British engineers from the Crossrail International in London will advise Israeli officials on the new Tel Aviv metro,

in turn boosting the UK economy, reported the Times.

The vast project in Tel Aviv will include the building of three light rail and metro lines and will support 27 local authorities with a predicted three million passengers every day.

Matthew Salter, the UK’s trade attaché to Israel, said: “It is very gratifying to see a British company win such a significant advisory role in Israel. We are confident that Crossrail International will help in many aspects of this complex metro project across all the various challenges it will face, thereby making a significant difference to improving the lives of Israeli citizens.”