Israel Railways
Israel Railways (Hebrew: רכבת ישראל "Rakévet Yisraél") is Israel's government-owned national railway company and is responsible for all inter-city and suburban railway passenger and freight traffic in the country. It utilizes the standard gauge in all its lines. The network is centered in Israel's densely populated coastal plain from where lines radiate out from Tel Aviv in many directions. Unlike road vehicles, Israeli trains run on the left side of the tracks.
Lines
The future plans for Israel Railways divide its passenger routes into nine operational lines:
Track
As for the physical railway network, one railway line extends north from Tel Aviv along the coast, reaching Haifa, the Krayot, and Nahariya. Another goes south to Be'er Sheva with a new spur from the Be'er Sheva North Station to Dimona, which opened on December 17, 2005. There are future plans to extend the Be’er Sheva-Dimona line to the Red Sea port of Eilat.
Another line goes south to Ashkelon with a spur to Rishon LeTzion. This line was extended from Ashdod to Ashkelon in April 2005. Another line goes East to Kfar Saba with an extension to Kfar Saba Central (Sokolov) opening on September 2, 2006.
The service on the line to Jerusalem, which opened in 1992, was suspended in 1998 due to the poor state of the track. However, it has recently been rebuilt and upgraded. The section of this line to Bet Shemesh re-opened in September 2003, while the remainder of the upgraded line to Jerusalem opened in April 2005 together with the opening of the new Jerusalem Malha Station in Southern Jerusalem. In October 2004, a new line from Tel Aviv to the new Terminal 3 at Ben Gurion International Airport was opened. From there this line will continue as a brand new high speed line currently being built to Jerusalem with a spur to Modi'in. This difficult to construct line will be electrified and make extensive use of long railway tunnels in order to make it possible for trains to achieve high speeds as they make their way from the coastal region to the mountainous Jerusalem area. In its first phase this line will terminate at a new underground station under construction underneath the Jerusalem Central Bus Station in Central Jerusalem. There are future plans to extend the line from the Jerusalem Central Bus Station so that it will connect with the (now upgraded) historic railroad that already reaches Southern Jerusalem. The ride on the new high-speed line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem will take 28 minutes. The line is expected to be finished sometime around 2011.
Expansion plans
Israel Railways traces its roots to the railway lines built by the Ottoman and British authorities. For many years the system lay under-utilized and in disrepair. However, in recent years Israel Railways has undertaken an ambitious multi-billion shekel expansion program (the sum invested between 2003 and 2011 is equivalent to about USD$6.5 billion). This program calls for large sums to be invested in reviving abandoned railroads, refurbishing and upgrading existing lines, and the construction of major brand new lines, as well as electrification of much of the system and the purchase of new rolling stock. Besides the aforementioned high-speed Tel Aviv to Modi'in/Jerusalem line, other new lines are currently under construction. One is the revival of the long-defunct Jezreel Valley line from Haifa to Bet She'an (originally a branch of the famed Hejaz railway) with a planned connection across the Jordan River into Jordan. A new line is being constructed from Tel Aviv to Ashdod via the southern Tel Aviv suburbs of Holon, Bat Yam, Rishon LeTzion and Yavne (West). Another new line will be built to connect Ashkelon with Be'er Sheva via the southern development towns on the edge of the Negev Desert. It is also planned to build a new line from Akko (Acre) to Karmiel. Also, the existing line to Be'er Sheva is currently undergoing upgrades to high-speed, dual-track configuration.
Proposed rail lines to the PA
Recent talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority have raised the possibility of reviving the old line from the Gaza Strip to Tulkarm and/or building a new line from Gaza to Tarkumia (near Hebron) with the aim of securely transporting people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank through sovereign Israeli territory as well as for transporting cargo to and from the Israeli port of Ashdod destined to the Palestinian Authority. Another proposed line would involve the revival of the old Hejaz railway branch from Afula to Jenin. This has drawn widespread criticism by some people.[citation needed]
Old railway links to other countries
Before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the railway system was extensively connected to neighboring countries. However, with the outbreak of hostilities during the Israeli War of Independence, those connections were severed and have yet to be restored. Israeli forces bombed the rail bridge on the way to Lebanon and the remnants of this line can be seen at Rosh HaNikra grottoes, where a virtual "train ride to peace" movie is shown inside the sealed tunnel that used to go into Lebanon. The tracks used to continue from Rosh HaNikra to Nahariya (the current northern end of the line) making it possible for one to travel from Lebanon all the way to Tel Aviv, Cairo, and beyond. Although unlikely at the present time, if and when true peace in the Middle East takes hold, some people hope that Israel could become an important railway junction in this region of the world (as it was before Israel became a state), thanks to its being strategically situated on the Mediterranean Sea, at the crossroads of Africa and Asia.
Passenger traffic
In 2004 the railway carried about 8 million tons of freight and 23 million passengers, a six-fold increase over the annual number of passengers it carried ten years earlier. Israel Railways forecasts that it will carry more than 60 million passengers in 2010 as a result of its expansion program.
Statistics
| Year | Passengers (million) | Major events |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 5.5 |
|
| 1997 | 5.6 | |
| 1998 | 6.4 |
|
| 1999 | 8.8 |
|
| 2000 | 12.7 |
|
| 2001 | 15.1 |
|
| 2002 | 17.5 |
|
| 2003 | 19.8 |
|
| 2004 | 22.9 |
|
| 2005 | 26.8 |
|
Israel Railways passenger stations
Rolling stock
Israel Railways employs the following passenger trains:
- Bombardier Double-deck Coach (since 2001)
- GEC-Alsthom JT42BW and JT42CW (since 1996)
- ABB Scandia IC3 (since 1992)
- Boris Kidrič/Metalka "Yugo" (since 1964)
- Talgo XXI Pendalino-style technology Diesel HST (since 2007)
References
- The Railways of Palestine and Israel, Paul Cotterell, 1986, Tourret Publishing, ISBN 0-905878-04-3.
External links
- Israel Railways (Official Web site)
- Israel Railway News (Unofficial Web site)
- On the Platform - organization for passenger rights Template:He icon
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