RAND Corporation recommends high-speed rail for the Palestinians
RAND Corporation, a leading global policy think tank, published a proposal in 2005 for Palestinian economic revitalization that was titled, The Arc: A Formal Structure for a Palestinian State.The "Arc" was an envisioned and crescent-shaped development corridor that stretched the length of the West Bank from Jenin to Hebron with a tunnel to Gaza on one end and expansion options to Haifa on the other. Anchoring this corridor was a high-speed rail network.This is the proposal in its entirety, and here is the summary.Pages 36-37, 60, 62, and 90 have information about the rail system.Related to this, The Center for Macro Projects and Diplomacy wrote an analysis of the proposed rail tunnel from Hebron to Gaza.
One of the envisioned stops is Ramallah.If the high-speed line were to be built, The Semitic School would be able to attract Palestinian students from a wider swath of the West Bank.They could spend a few minutes taking the train from Nablus or Bethelem and transfer at a Ramallah transit center to a bus that would take them to the school.
Rand states, "The critical infrastructure along the Arc is a fast interurban rail line linking almost all the primary cities of Gaza and the West Bank in just over 90 minutes. The rail line makes public transportation a national priority while establishing the “trunk” of the national infrastructure corridor."
