Hadassah Branch, Red Line Light Rail, Jerusalem

The Hadassah branch of the Red Line completes the southern part of Jerusalem’s mass transit system with its extension through the Kiryat HaYovel neighborhood to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital.

The statutory planning and subsequent design process proved to be very challenging since the route passes through landscape-sensitive areas on very steep slopes, especially in the section between Ora Junction and the hospital complex. The train travels along one of Jerusalem’s most unique ridge lines with spectacular views into its surroundings. Different sections of stepped terrace walls on one or both sides of the train path, in addition to bridges in particularly steep sections, provide architectural solutions for the insertion of the line into the landscape. A promenade which runs below the entire length of the line, provides a new pedestrian and bicycle connection to the hospital, and has become a cherished hiking route for residents of the area. The goal of the landscape scheme was to seamlessly integrate the line into its surroundings by planting native tree, shrubs, perennial and annual plant species. The construction process involved the removal of about 200 existing trees which were successfully transplanted to another nature park. As part of the new plantings, hundreds of new trees, like cypress, olive, pistachio, almond, oak and carob trees were planted together with roughly 120,000 ground cover plants.