‘Donald John Trump, Western Wall’ train station approved for construction
The project was approved on Tuesday when Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz accepted recommendations issued by the steering committee of Israel Railways to construct a train station in Jerusalem’s Jewish Quarter.
President Donald Trump visits Jerusalem’s Western Wall on May 22, 2017. Credit: Matty Stern/U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv
The station will be located several dozen feet from the Western Wall.
“The Kotel (Western Wall) is the holiest place to the Jewish people, and I have decided to name the train station leading to it after U.S. President Donald Trump, in recognition of his brave and historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,” Katz said.
The Western Wall train project will see the construction of a 1.8-mile-long underground tunnel connecting Jerusalem’s Hauma train station with a new subterranean “City Center” station as well as the “Donald John Trump, Western Wall” station. The underground Jerusalem train lines will connect with the forthcoming Tel Aviv-Jerusalem high-speed rail, which is slated for completion in December 2021.
The Jerusalem train initiative is one of several recently announced projects aimed at increasing tourism to Israel’s capital, including an elevator to the Western Wall that will ease access for people with disabilities as well as a new cable car in the Old City.
Earlier this month, the northern Israeli city of Kiryat Yam named a park after Trump in honor of his policy changes on Jerusalem.
JNS.org
It is usual to name infrastructure after someone who has retired or died. It is risky naming something after Trump who is at the start of his term as US president as circumstances could change. There are Israelis deserving of having a rail station named after them too.