New details on the cable car that will bring Jewish worshipers directly from the airport to the Temple Mount.
The Western Wall and the Temple Mount have literally over millions of people coming to visit it together all around the year. It’s probably the most visited site in Israel. It is very difficult to get to once you pass the age of 50 because the bus service to get into the Old City or taxies even; now buses can’t get in.
And so what happens is people have to be left out by the gates and sort of walk in. You know that its steps leading down and it’s very crowded. It’s not the best way to get to a site where you have hundreds of thousands of people. And so they came up with this idea because Israel is building a whole new transit system. You’ll be able to get off your plane at Ben Gurion Airport and within 20 minutes you’re in Jerusalem with the high-speed train.
If you fly from New York to Ben Gurion Airport you will be able to get on the cable car and ultimately land right there at the Western Wall Plaza to offer your prayer. Well once you get off the plane, it will be probably between 20-25 minutes to get to Jerusalem and another 10 minutes to get to where the cable car is going to be which is right next to the Menachem Begin Heritage Center by the way. It is on that hill opposite to Mt. Zion Hotel. And then it will swing around Mt. Zion and end up another 5 minutes or so and you’re right at the entrance of the Western Wall or go up into the Temple Mount.
The cable car will travel 1.4 kilometers from the old railway station to the Western Wall and there will be 73 cars with the capacity to transport 3,000 people in each direction.
Starting from David Remez street outside the old Jerusalem station, the cable car will travel above Bible Hill (Givat Hatanakh) and the Valley of Gehenna, skirt around the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion and the Church of St. Peter in Gallicantu and above the Ein Hilweh neighborhood before the terminal near the Western Wall.
Ministry of Tourism estimates are that 135,000 people visit the Old City each week. The aim of the project is to provide easier access to the Western Wall and southern side of the Old City and significantly ease pedestrian congestion in the Old City.
(Source: VCY America, JerusalemNext)
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