# ISRAEL | Railways



## Chavito (Jun 1, 2005)

Fantastic thread!!!

Do you have any information about lines lenght?

Which lines are double deck?

Thanks


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

brisbanite said:


> Nice Thread! Good to see some pics and info on the Israeli rail network. Have you got any freight pic's of the network?


Hi,

I don't really know much about the freight lines. Here is what I could find:

This is the network:










I know that if you happen to be on the platform of one of the Tel Aviv passenger stations late in the evening, there is a good chance that you will see a freight train running through it. They do not do this during the day, for obvious reasons.

And here are some pics:



















This one was taken (not by me) at Binyamina station:


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## javi itzhak (Mar 4, 2008)

train in Tel Aviv


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Chavito said:


> Fantastic thread!!!
> 
> Do you have any information about lines lenght?
> 
> ...


Here are some statistics from Israel Railways site:

Length of track: 975 km.

Gauge: 1,435 mm

Number of passenger stations: 47

No. of freight stations: 30

Number of passenger trains a day: 338

Max. speed: 150 km.

Busiest station: Tel Aviv Central.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Which lines are double deck?"


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## Chavito (Jun 1, 2005)

^^^^

Double track

Sorry

:nuts:


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## ^Anton^ (Jan 1, 2007)

Those you guys call "Danish IC-3" are actually CAF Serie 594 and they're Spanish, it's just that the Danish Railways, just as Renfe (Spanish Railways) use those in some of their lines.


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## AR1182 (Jan 10, 2006)

^Anton^ said:


> Those you guys call "Danish IC-3" are actually CAF Serie 594 and they're Spanish, it's just that the Danish Railways, just as Renfe (Spanish Railways) use those in some of their lines.


Actually they are Danish IC3 trains, built by ABB Scania (though some of them were assembled in Israel). The Spanish trains you refer to were developed by CAF several years later than the IC3 but share some of its features, like the rubber diaphragms at the front.


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## ^Anton^ (Jan 1, 2007)

Agggg so confusing, are u sure though? cos the CAF ones are pretty old, they're being replaced in most of the lines for newer versions, also developed by CAF afaik.


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## AR1182 (Jan 10, 2006)

^Anton^ said:


> Agggg so confusing, are u sure though? cos the CAF ones are pretty old, they're being replaced in most of the lines for newer versions, also developed by CAF afaik.


Yes, I'm sure. The IC3 was developed by ABB in the eighties, and the Israelis got their first trainsets (identical to the former) in 1992. CAF's 594 were built in the late nineties, so I doubt they are pulling them out of service. Maybe you're confusing the 594 series with CAF's older 592 and 593 series.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Chavito said:


> ^^^^
> 
> Double track
> 
> ...


To be honest, I don't know how much of the system is double track and I can't find the answer. 

However, Israel Railways new site (in Hebrew) shows that the following track doubling and upgrade projects are currently underway:

Tel Aviv - Kfar Saba (completion Q2 2008)
Kiryat Motzkin - Nahariya (completion Q1 2009)
Lod - Beer Sheva. (completion Q4 2009)

The last one is a major line and the upgrade is a major project which includes more than just doubling the track. I know that the current single track severly limits the number of services that can run to Beer Sheva and also causes delays.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

According to the Israeli Tapuz forum, the first six of the new Siemens coaches were unloaded at Ashdod port last night.

They will continue to arrive in batches, with the intention being for the first two trains (20 coaches) to be running in about a month. All in all, the order comprises 80-something coaches, which, I assume, means 8 trains in total.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

Some interesting numbers from Israel Railways:

IR carried 3.23 million passengers in August, 15% up on last August.

From Jan 1 to the end of August, ridership was 23.42 million, up 13.5% on last year.

The busiest line in the country is Tel Aviv-Haifa, used by 592,417 passengers in August, followed by Tel Aviv-Ashkelon, which was used by 541,469 passengers.

Overall punctuality in August, defined as when a train reaches its final destination within 5 minutes of its designated time, was 91.46%.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

Does anybody have any "hard facts" regarding the plans for a fast train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? I know that they've got as far as Modin and that the rest of the line is supposed to follow in 2011. But... plans are one thing, execution is quite another. Last time I visited Jerusalem (in March) my Israeli colleagues were pretty sceptical. They cited, among other things, a strong reluctance on the part of the City of Jerusalem to contemplate a mass emigration of non-Haredi tax payers to Tel Aviv once there is a fast "commuter line".


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## Alexriga (Nov 25, 2007)

What about electrification? For such suburban services electrical trains would be much more effective.


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## Gag Halfrunt (Jun 25, 2006)

Alexriga said:


> What about electrification? For such suburban services electrical trains would be much more effective.


*RoadUser* wrote "Electrification of part of the the system is planned for the next few years." in the first post.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> Does anybody have any "hard facts" regarding the plans for a fast train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem? I know that they've got as far as Modin and that the rest of the line is supposed to follow in 2011. But... plans are one thing, execution is quite another. Last time I visited Jerusalem (in March) my Israeli colleagues were pretty sceptical. They cited, among other things, a strong reluctance on the part of the City of Jerusalem to contemplate a mass emigration of non-Haredi tax payers to Tel Aviv once there is a fast "commuter line".


The first part of the project is finished. It goes past Modiin, approximately to Latrun. The tracks cross Road 3 on the longest bridge in the country, which is 1.2 km long:










This bridge ends at a hill now, and this is where the next stage is supposed to start. The final stage is 30km, of which 20km are tunnels, the longest of which is 11 km. The company that will build this stage has been chosen. but there are delays caused by the project going over budget, as well as, apparently, second thoughts on various technical and environmental issues. The question of what they are going to do with the rocks excavated from 20km of tunnelling also apparently still needs to be answered.

As for electrification: the Jerusalem line is supposed to be the first electric line, and other major lines are supposed to be electrified too. There is some concern at the Ministry of Finance about the cost of electrification, which has led to the formng of a succession of commitees to discuss the issue again (and again).


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

Israel Railways today ran a double-length, double decker train with two locomotives for the first time:










The train, which can seat 1200 people, is meant to alleviate overcrowding on the busiest lines at the busiest time of the week, which is Sunday morning, mainly due to soldiers returning to their bases after weekend leave. At present the train will run on the Beer Sheva-Nahariya line.

Information and picture from the Calcalist newspaper website.


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## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

Reall nice! It's interesting though how the double traction was achieved. Here in Austria usually either both locos are in the front, or one is pulling and one is pushing. Double traction with one loco in the middle is something I have never seen in passenger trains so far, only in cargo trains.

From what I calculated this train must have been approximately 330 meters long. Is that about right? What's the average platform length in israeli trainstations?


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

rheintram said:


> From what I calculated this train must have been approximately 330 meters long. Is that about right? What's the average platform length in israeli trainstations?


According to the IR website, each double-deck coach is 26.8 m long, and each locomotive is 20.46. That makes nearly 310 meters. Presumably the overall length of the train would be a bit longer than that. 

As to average platform length, Tel Aviv Hashalom station has platforms that are slightly too short to accommodate what appears to be a set of 5 IC3s, which should be 294m long. Passengers in the rearmost carriage are told to move forward to get off. Every other station that I know of has long enough platforms for them. Other than that I don't know.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

RoadUser said:


> The first part of the project is finished. It goes past Modiin, approximately to Latrun. The tracks cross Road 3 on the longest bridge in the country, which is 1.2 km long.
> 
> This bridge ends at a hill now, and this is where the next stage is supposed to start. The final stage is 30km, of which 20km are tunnels, the longest of which is 11 km. The company that will build this stage has been chosen, but there are delays caused by the project going over budget, as well as, apparently, second thoughts as to whether to build single or double tunnels for the tracks.


Many thanks for the explanations and the photo. I was saying to myself - seing how the hills around Jerusalem shoot out of the plains rather than rising slowly - that the Israeli railways would have to build a ramp to dwarf the one at Masada. I see now that they have done so already. 

On you second point, I thought some of the tunneling was already done and available as a carcass construction? A friend told me an Italian tunneling team (living in prefabricated barracks, staying away from Israeli society and bringing their own food...) had done so a couple of years ago, but so far the railways have used the tunnel for nothing. Or, is that in your view a canard?


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> On you second point, I thought some of the tunneling was already done and available as a carcass construction? A friend told me an Italian tunneling team (living in prefabricated barracks, staying away from Israeli society and bringing their own food...) had done so a couple of years ago, but so far the railways have used the tunnel for nothing. Or, is that in your view a canard?


To the best of my knowledge, there is no truth in this story at all. 

There are plenty of details here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_railway_to_Jerusalem.

I don't know how up-to-the-minute it is, but it gives the general idea.


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## serdar samanlı1 (Feb 20, 2008)

RoadUser said:


> Hi,
> 
> I hope you were referring to the pics from the Austrian forum. If so, I have uploaded them to my server and you should be able to see them now.
> 
> Meanwhile, here's a pic of a double decker in the middle of Tel Aviv's Ayalon Freeway (from Wikipedia):


Do car drivers ever want to race with trains?


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## Kuvvaci (Jan 1, 2005)

hi guys.. wonderful thread but I am a little bit confused. Do you have metro or suburban train? Wich one is intercity wich one is regional train? Could you please classifice the trains?


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## Gag Halfrunt (Jun 25, 2006)

Kuvvaci said:


> hi guys.. wonderful thread but I am a little bit confused. Do you have metro or suburban train? Wich one is intercity wich one is regional train? Could you please classifice the trains?


Israel is a very small country, and I get the impression that the same trains serve all types of journey. If I'm wrong, no doubt someone will correct me.


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## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

^^ure right


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

ZOHAR said:


> ^^ure right


Not quite. The system is divided into suburban and inter-city lines. The lines are "virtual", in that they often use the same tracks.

Intercity lines include the Nahariya-Modiin and Nahariya-Beer-Sheva lines, while the suburban lines include the Ashkelon-Binyamina and Rehovot-Binyamina lines and, I believe, the line to Kfar-Sava. 

Intercity trains do not stop between Tel Aviv and Binyamina, so I have to change trains every day at Tel Aviv to get from Modiin to Herzliya.

As far as rolling-stock is concerned, all of the suburban trains are double-deckers, AFAIK, while the inter-city lines have both the double deckers and all the other types of train too.


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## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

maybe ure right
I never knew that
sowwy


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## serdar samanlı1 (Feb 20, 2008)

Are they planning to electrify suburban lines?


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

serdar samanlı;26025884 said:


> Are they planning to electrify suburban lines?


Eventually . . . 

Meanwhile, I've found some more pictures of the new Siemens trains which are soon to enter service in Israel. They are from the bahnbilder.de site and were taken in Switzerland:





































There are others on the site, as well as more pictures of Israeli trains.


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## serdar samanlı1 (Feb 20, 2008)

Those are diesel trains because they do not have pantographs.


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## keber (Nov 8, 2006)

Are you sure? 
Look at yellow locomotive in 4th picture


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

keber said:


> Are you sure?
> Look at yellow locomotive in 4th picture


That's a Swiss locomotive. Here they will be pulled (and pushed) by Israel Railway's standard diesel locomotive for passenger trains, the Alstom JT42BW:


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## Alon19871987 (Oct 4, 2008)

*Israeli Network*

Hi
Wonderful pictures. I love the new colors chosen- suiting Israel perfectly. I use the system sometimes from Binyamina to Tel Aviv Central. I belive the most important thing is to creat a fast connection to Jerusalem (now being built). I heared a connection to the dead sea via Arad is planned as well as a line to Eilat with a connection to Petra in Jordan. There's also a line to Nazareth that's being built and I think it might further continue to Tiberias and Kiryat Shmona. 
Good night


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## ZOHAR (Jul 16, 2005)

^^welcome to SSC


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## serdar samanlı1 (Feb 20, 2008)

Are there any electric locomotives in Israel yet?


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## Kuvvaci (Jan 1, 2005)

how are teh stations?


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## Dinuś (Aug 17, 2006)

Some pix from this summer Jerusalem-Tel Aviv route


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## Kuvvaci (Jan 1, 2005)

amazing pictures :applause: 

wich train was the one you took? The one wich covers with advertisment? How fast was it?


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Kuvvaci said:


> amazing pictures :applause:
> 
> wich train was the one you took? The one wich covers with advertisment? How fast was it?


Great pictures!

I am not the photographer, but, to answer your question: The interior photo looks like it was taken in an IC3 train, which is the single-deck train with the advertisements on. For some reason, these are the only trains with adverts.

The route to Jerusalem is an upgrade of the old Turkish Jerusalem-Jaffa line, which was opened in 1892. It takes about an hour and a half, which is much longer than driving. It is quite steep and winding for a train, and of all the trains that IR uses, only the IC3 can handle it. It is quite picturesque and a good ride for tourists. In Turkish times the journey apparently took six hours!

The old Jerusalem and Jaffa stations still exist, but are no longer in use. The Jaffa station is now being renovated as an entertainment center, and the Jerusalem station is, as far as I know, still looking for a new function.


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## Kuvvaci (Jan 1, 2005)

I think it was a part of famous Hijaz railroad (wich goes to Meddina from Anatolia- along today Syria and Israel). I am not sure, but it can be!


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

Israel railways have released their ridership figures for 2008:

Total ridership was 35,136,000 passengers, up from 31,791,000 in 2007. Expected ridership for 2009 is 37,022,000.

Punctuality, BTW, was 91.32% for the year, and I can testify that there has been a huge improvement in punctuality over the last year, and even more so over the last month or so since IR opened its new national control center. I can barely remember a train that I used - and I use 4 a day - being more than a couple of minutes late during the entire month.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^Do you know how they measure punctuality? I ask because here in Europe differences in definition make cross-country comparisons very difficult. At one extreme Switzerland considers more than 2 minutes behind schedule as a delay. At the other extreme, the French SNCF's trains are only "delayed" after 10 minutes - and moreover non-appearance of trains due to technical glitches and strikes are not included.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> ^^Do you know how they measure punctuality? I ask because here in Europe differences in definition make cross-country comparisons very difficult. At one extreme Switzerland considers more than 2 minutes behind schedule as a delay. At the other extreme, the French SNCF's trains are only "delayed" after 10 minutes - and moreover non-appearance of trains due to technical glitches and strikes are not included.


At the moment, a train is late if it reaches its FINAL destination more than five minutes behind schedule.

I read somewhere that now that they have the new control center, in the future they will be able to release punctuality figures for individual stations along the way too.

The Swiss figure seems a bit crazy to me. No reasonable passenger would consider a train to be late if it was delayed by three minutes.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^I'd agree that the Swiss are a bit crazy, though not for the reason you mention. The reasons for the 2 minutes limit (well... reason? What's the chicken and the egg here?) is that they like to cut their time schedules to tight that commuters actually count on changing trains at any given station with a couple of minutes of buffer time. If the train they arrive with is 3 minutes late then they're stuck for a non-trivial amount of time. That said...

...the reason I hold them to be crazy is that they detest inaccuracies so much that they consider delays both in the positive and the negative. A train that arrives 3 minutes ahead of schedule in Switzerland is considered as "delayed". :nuts:


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## Grunnen (Jan 16, 2008)

^^ Are you sure about that?

Somewhere else I read that the Swiss train schedule is calculated from the worst case, so that trains arrive ahead of schedule very often, and then wait quite long in the stations. If that would be counted as delayed, the punctuality percentage couldn't possibly be as high as it is.

But I can fully understand their 3 minute limit. Here in the Netherlands, the same limit is used. And that makes sense, because there are a lot of cross-platform interchanges where trains arrive at the same time and wait only a few minutes for people to change trains. A delay of 3 minutes means a lost connection and waiting half an hour.

Btw. I found an interesting picture:








The x-axis shows the traffic density (in train-km / track-km), the y-axis shows the punctuality.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^I'm only "sure" to the extent that I saw a statistic from SBB/CFF where they explained that according to their definition "delayed means 2 minutes too late or too early". Maybe the definition applied only to the report I read? But I think you're wrong when you say that the Swiss trains often arrive very early and wait at the platform. They write ex-treme-ly conservative time schedules, that is true, to avoid nasty surprises, but as far as I'm aware this makes them drive slowly out on the tracks - not wait in railway stations. I should here add that I lived in CH for three years and my subjective experiences further corroborate this: I saw plenty of "Intercities" travel at a leisurely pace, but I almost never saw trains lingering at the platforms.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Yesterday I happened to be in Tel Aviv with a camera. Here are a couple of pictures and a video that I took at Tel Aviv Hahagana Station:


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

The first of the new Siemens trains went into regular service yesterday. I saw it while I was waiting for my train at Tel Aviv Central yesterday evening.

This picture was taken yesterday in Haifa:










(Picture credit: Chen Melling; the Tapuz Public Transport Forum)


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Sunday morning I found the new Siemens train waiting for me on platform 2 of Modiin Central station:










40 minutes later at Tel Aviv Central:










These are cellphone pics so please excuse the less-than-perfect quality.

As for the train, I think it is kind of odd-looking, but nice and modern inside.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

Now that a partly-underground metro is planned for Tel Aviv, I was wondering if anybody given any thought to how to deal with the security issue? What I mean is, in Israel you have to go through a metal detector and have your hand luggage checked simply to go into a supermarket. Will they do likewise with their mass transport service? I don't see how they can avoid doing it. On the other hand, judging by Paris where people sprint in and out of metro stations to catch connecting trains, that will seriously devalue the system.


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## Deanb (Jun 7, 2006)

hans280 said:


> Now that a partly-underground metro is planned for Tel Aviv, I was wondering if anybody given any thought to how to deal with the security issue? What I mean is, in Israel you have to go through a metal detector and have your hand luggage checked simply to go into a supermarket.


huh? where have u heard that? hno:


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> Now that a partly-underground metro is planned for Tel Aviv, I was wondering if anybody given any thought to how to deal with the security issue? What I mean is, in Israel you have to go through a metal detector and have your hand luggage checked simply to go into a supermarket. Will they do likewise with their mass transport service? I don't see how they can avoid doing it. On the other hand, judging by Paris where people sprint in and out of metro stations to catch connecting trains, that will seriously devalue the system.


Well, it's true that there are security checks at the entrances to the railway stations, but you don't get checked again when you change trains. I assume that at stations where the metro and railways connect the same will be true; you'll get off one and onto the other at different platforms in the same station.

This is just me guessing so if anyone else knows better then please tell us.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

Deanb said:


> huh? where have u heard that? hno:


Heard what? That the Israelis are meshuggener about security? :nuts: From my wife. She's from Netanya. But...

...you're right, there was of course a tad of provocation in my question: last week I walked straight into the ministerial corridor of the Ministry of Finance in my native Copenhagen. The Danes see no reason to have a guard by the door. Last month I had to wait in a line to enter the Dizengoff Centre. - And as for having a face check in railway stations... :mad2:


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

These rather nice aerial photos were posted by Israel Railways on a local forum. I assume they're publicity pics:


Taken near Haifa:




















Taken outside Ben Gurion Airport:


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## Guest (May 25, 2009)

fantastic trains and stations


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

frozen said:


> fantastic trains and stations


Not so fantastic apparently hno:

The latest news is that IR have withdrawn the one and only Siemens train that has so far gone into service, because of faults.

Siemens are so going to get sued. Not only did they supply the trains 9 months late, now they're full of bugs . . .


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## wheel of steel (Jul 1, 2007)

frozen said:


> fantastic trains and stations


Israel Railways is one of the best in the world that utilized DMU trains.


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## wheel of steel (Jul 1, 2007)

delete


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## E.L. SLOVENIA (Oct 15, 2006)

New DMUs for Israel in Slovenia this week from Czech Republic 



























@milchy


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

RoadUser said:


> Not so fantastic apparently hno:
> 
> The latest news is that IR have withdrawn the one and only Siemens train that has so far gone into service, because of faults.
> 
> Siemens are so going to get sued. Not only did they supply the trains 9 months late, now they're full of bugs . . .


Hi all,

Following up my previous posting - the Siemens trains are back in service. There are now four of them running, with a fifth apparently nearing completion and almost ready to go. I believe there will eventually be eight of them, apparently by the end of 2009.

Personally I think they are kind of odd-looking, but they are nice and modern and comfortable, and certainly a huge step up from the old crates that they are replacing. I think there are only 1 or 2 of the old slam-door trains left in regular service now, and they will go when the rest of the Siemens trains are put into service.


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## Nick in Atlanta (Nov 5, 2003)

Is there a reason that the trains run on the left set of tracks while roads in Israel are driven on the right side. I assume that it may be a relic from when the British were in charge.


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## natarajan1986 (Sep 10, 2008)

double deck trains are great


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Nick in Atlanta said:


> Is there a reason that the trains run on the left set of tracks while roads in Israel are driven on the right side. I assume that it may be a relic from when the British were in charge.


No idea, but I assume you're right.


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## groentje (Apr 15, 2006)

Many European countries have their trains running on the left side, including France, Belgium, Switzerland, Austria and Italy. Mostly because their first locomotives where English. Wikipedia is your friend


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

The last of the old slam-door trains were finally withdrawn from service recently, thank goodness.

They have been replaced by the new Siemens trains, seven of which are now in service, out of a total of 10.

The old things were in service for almost 50 years, so I guess they deserve some respect, so here's one final picture before they sink into history:


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## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

E.L. SLOVENIA said:


> New DMUs for Israel in Slovenia this week from Czech Republic


Anyone knows which route those DMUs took to arrive to Israel from Europe ?
As far as I know, the Israeli network is not connected to any of his 
neighboors...


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## E.L. SLOVENIA (Oct 15, 2006)

^^ From Port of Koper to Israel.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

natarajan1986 said:


> double deck trains are great


Not so great, IMHO: The conclusion drawn here in France is that that they are useful on medium to long-distance travels. The suburban lines around Paris are about to phase out their double deckers because they are too slow: not only are they heavier than other trains (and hence slow to brake and even slower to accelerate), the train also has to wait for at least half a minute longer at each stations because the passenger exit takes a lot longer. (Time to get down the stairs, bottlenecks when the "upstairs" meet the "downstairs"...) 

In the future, short-distance trains in France will, I think, be mostly tram-like long snakes, with an open passage in the entire length of the train and no space wasted on connecting pieces between waggons. They claim that such trains will have the same passenger capacity as the double deckers - and SNCF has already ordered the first batch from Canadian (!!) Bombardier.


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## Gag Halfrunt (Jun 25, 2006)

^^ There's nothing odd about SNCF buying from Bombardier, which has over the years bought up companies in France, Germany, the UK and elsewhere. It claims to be "the global leader in the rail equipment manufacturing and servicing industry", and the Bombardier Transportation headquarters are now in Berlin, because most of its business is in Europe.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^Nothing odd in general, I agree, since railway material is becoming an incredibly "international" business. However, this is seen as the first tranche of a BIG series of orders for replacement of rolling stock. It was not terribly popular with the French public and press that the order went to a foreign company - especially one from a country that has never, ever (or so the French press says) bought foreign-produced trams or trains.


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

Bad news. I only just learnt that this story went up on Jerusalem Post over the summer: 

"The construction of a high-speed railway link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv which will cut travel time to less than half an hour has been essentially suspended and at least seven years is needed to complete the work, Israel Railways said Monday. 

The $750 million route, which originally was supposed to start running last year, will not be ready before 2016 at the earliest, Israel Railways spokesman Shahar Wiesman said. 

He said that the project is currently being held up over a dispute with environmental groups over a valley in the hills on the outskirts of Jerusalem, where a 150-meter bridge is supposed to be constructed for the train line. 

"The inauguration of the fast rail line to Jerusalem will take between six and seven years to complete from the day that work begins after all the statutory permits are received," Israel Railways said in a written press release. 

The release said that ballooning costs as a result of environmental group demands were endangering the whole project. 

Environmental groups on Monday rejected as baseless lies the charges that they were the cause of the delays. 

"The only thing that Israel Railways has succeeded in doing in this project is to lie," said Shaked Avraham, a senior official with the Society for the Protection of Nature who has been involved in the negotiations. "They cannot transfer their disgrace to green groups." 

Last month, a government watchdog report found that serious lapses in the planning and budgeting of the project essentially stopped work on the line. 

The report by State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss cited repeated construction delays stemming from poor planning and incorrect budgeting of the mega-project." 

* * *

That's bloody depressing! I visit Israel at least once a year to see my inlaws, and I had convinced myself that they'd get cracking on that line prolongation within the next year or two. One cannot but agree with Mr. Lindenstrauss: if they need more time to build 30 km between Modi'in and Jerusalem than the Chinese needed to build 1200 km between Beijing and Shanghai then they probably DO have a problem with planning. hno:

Ah well, in consequence, Saudi Arabia will be the first country in the Middle East with a modern railway line. Alla'hu Akhbar! :lol:


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## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

hans280 said:


> Ah well, in consequence, Saudi Arabia will be the first country in the Middle East with a modern railway line. Alla'hu Akhbar! :lol:


You forget Turkey, which already has one...


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## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^Not really. Turkey could be considered, as our Turkish friends never stop telling us, as a European nation. Similarly, there's likely to be a HS line in Morocco before there's one in Saudi Arabia, but, whereas Marocco is a mostly Arabic country, it cannot really be considered as "Middle East".


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## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

hans280 said:


> ^^Not really. Turkey could be considered, as our Turkish friends never stop telling us, as a European nation. Similarly, there's likely to be a HS line in Morocco before there's one in Saudi Arabia, but, whereas Marocco is a mostly Arabic country, it cannot really be considered as "Middle East".


I beg to disagree. The new turkish railways high-speed line is definitely east of the Bosphorus, which means, for me at least, that it is in Asia. Turkey
pretends to obtain EU membership, ok, but that does not mean it is an
european country.


----------



## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> Bad news. I only just learnt that this story went up on Jerusalem Post over the summer:
> 
> "The construction of a high-speed railway link between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv which will cut travel time to less than half an hour has been essentially suspended and at least seven years is needed to complete the work, Israel Railways said Monday. . . .


Hi all,

I've basically given up trying to follow the never ending saga of the line to Jerusalem, but these are the latest developments according to Wikipedia:

"On June 23, 2009, the environmentalists' petitions were rejected, and the planning committee decided that there would be a bridge over the Yitla Stream, in line with the previous recommendations of the Sadan Committee. Israel Railways and the Jerusalem Municipality supported the decision. The decision in favor of a bridge over the stream was ratified by the National Planning Committee in August 2009, subject to design changes to be made to the bridge site to make it more environmentally-friendly"

"Sha'ar HaGai and Mevaseret Zion - section 'C' - the tender was awarded in September 2009 and preliminary site work began November 2009 with expected overall completion in 2015/2016."

So, although the project is going to be badly delayed, things are at least moving.


----------



## hans280 (Jun 13, 2008)

^^Pity we have to wait until 2016 (at the earliest) to see progress. But, then again, I understand from my readings on the internet that this Section C is by far the most challenging in terms of engineering. Presumably, whilst waiting for the - slow - completion of this section the authorities will want to tender and complete the other remaining parts of the line? Otherwise paying good money for a Sha'ar HaGai/Mevaseret Zion connection seems to make little sense: it is located in the middle of the missing 30 km. 

One question, RoadUser: do you know if this means that the authorities have finally made a firm decision about what route to pursue? I'm asking because the Wikipedia page you cite proposes several alternative corridors. The invocation of Sha'ar HaGai must mean that they're going for corridor "A" and, as far as I can see, probably version "A1"?


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## Hebrewtext (Aug 18, 2004)

the scenery route of Tel Aviv - Jerusalem line


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

hans280 said:


> One question, RoadUser: do you know if this means that the authorities have finally made a firm decision about what route to pursue? I'm asking because the Wikipedia page you cite proposes several alternative corridors. The invocation of Sha'ar HaGai must mean that they're going for corridor "A" and, as far as I can see, probably version "A1"?


As far as I understand it, the A1 route was chosen years ago. The tree huggers (and various technical resasons) delayed it until recently, when the appeals were rejected and the National Planning Committee ratified it. 

Practically the entire way from the bridge over Road 3 near Latrun to Jerusalem is underground, which is why it is going to take so long to build. No tunneling on this scale has ever been undertaken in this country. the longest tunnel in the country at the moment goes into Modiin Central railway station, and is about 3 km long. This will be overtaken by the Carmel Tunnels in Haifa when they open. The tunnels on the Jerusalem railway line are something like 3 times longer than these.

The abovementioned bridge, BTW, is also the longest in the country. It is already built, but, of course, not yet in use.


----------



## billy001 (Mar 14, 2010)

Hi, it would be nice if you could join this thread and attach pictures of examples of different solutions for helping disabled persons to board the train. 

Barrier-free transport for the disabled - wheelchair lifts


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## zvir (Aug 19, 2009)

*new/upgraded lines of israel railways-you tube video*

1. upgraded line tel-aviv-lod -beersheba:
double track, new geometry when needed
that will allow tel aviv -Beersheba in 50 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM9F7kayKsk

2.new line ashdod-tel aviv
suburban new line on the freeway median.

http://www.youtube.com/user/IsraelRailsOnline#p/u/0/qBMmdoPv6SU


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## Coccodrillo (Sep 30, 2005)

Relics of the British influence on railways, I suppose. By the way in Italy and Sweden, where train still run on the left, used left running also on some or all of their roads (Sweden until 1967, Italy in some cities like Milan until the 1920s).

As for train the side of travel depends on the signalling, the differences even in the same state are not a problem, and most of modern signalling systems also allow two trains running in the same direction.


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## sekelsenmat (May 20, 2008)

São Paulo - Brazil - has some rail lines running on the right and others on the left, so not even on the same city it is a problem to mix both.

Although I think it would be more rational to change everything to right-running.


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## Coccodrillo (Sep 30, 2005)

sekelsenmat said:


> Although I think it would be more rational to change everything to right-running.


If for a road vehicle changing the running side can be problematic (intensity of lighs, visibility while overtaking, buttons and ticket dispensers on the wrong side in parkings, ...), for trains it isn't. Even if signalling on a particular line is reversible the layout of tracks isn't, obliging to rebuild the timetable. Basically there is no need to change running side on railways.

For example, think of a station with three tracks (1 northbound main line, 2 southbound main line, 3 southbound for overtakings). Think of a soutbound regional train stopping on track 3, leaving space for a faster IC passing through track 2. With trains running on the right this wouldn't be possible, and would require a new timetable.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

The new line from Tel Aviv to Rishon Lezion opened last week.

The occasion was spoilt somewhat by strike action by IR employees.

This is the latest version of the IR passenger line map. The new line is at bottom left. Yavne West station is supposed to open some time in the near future. The new stations are Holon Junction, Holon Wolfson, Bat Yam Yoseftal, Bat Yam Kommemiut and Rishon Lezion Moshe Dayan. 

The project included the addition of a new platform 5 at Tel Aviv Hahagana. TAH is now the terminus of the other Rishon Lezion line, from Harishonim to Tel Aviv, which previously terminated at Tel Aviv Central.


----------



## Yetzirah231 (Jun 10, 2008)

Hi RoadUser, great thanks, good to know. (If I ever go to Holon or Bat Yam?) I'm from Jerusalem so not that connected.

In my opinion the network should become something like this:
Where the red line goes often and somehow 1 time goes via Bnai Barak (against the clock around), and 1 time via Hertzliyah (with the clock around). Or a variation that you can come quicker in Hod Ha Sharon. Hertzliah becomes a more important station (also to reduce traffic jams to TA).
And the black new line from Jerusalem Central BusStation goest to Haifa-Hof HaCarmel. (that will be less then 2 hours traveltime).
Handy is that from the North people have more options to choose from, it might attract more passengers, and the pink line and busses can deliver more people to Hof HaCarmel. The black line should go every 30 min at least, and the light green line should go every 30 minutes. So from Hof HaCarmel to Ben Gurion it's every 15 minutes. From Jerusalem to Herzliyah should also be every 15 minutes. THEN from BG to TA at least 6 trains an hour will go per direction. And people at BG (also comming from Modiin) can choose to go to Herliyah and Netanyah in a quicker way.
They should build 2 extra tracks straith from Atlit to Netanyah closer to the coast, under all other traffic, that will give some space for the black and the dark-green line to pass other trains. And the intercity-trains might even gain 10 minutes of travelingtime.

Maybe they have to build extra tracks from Savidor till Hof HaCarmel, but it will safe some space on Highways or extra busses. And the slow-trains interfear less the intercity trains. The black line also helps congestion on the blue line in the most dence part of that line.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Your map is quite similar to the IR development map:










Meanwhile here are some pictures from the new Rishon Lezion line. Photo credit: Daniel Buchman.


The yellow and blue locomotives are usually used for freight trains, but have been pressed into service on the new line pending delivery of some new ones.


----------



## Fatfield (Jul 26, 2010)

^^^^

Were these carriages originally used by DB Bahn?


----------



## k.k.jetcar (Jul 17, 2008)

Fatfield said:


> ^^^^
> 
> Were these carriages originally used by DB Bahn?


No(they have upgraded aircon for obvious reasons) but they are based on DB double-deck designs used from at least the 1990's, as they are built at Bombardier's Gorlitz plant:
http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/...receives-Israeli-double-deck-coach-order.aspx

http://www.bombardier.com/en/transp...edium-profile---israel?docID=0901260d80010308

Gorlitz factory:
http://de.bombardier.com/en/site_details_Gorlitz.htm


----------



## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

k.k.jetcar said:


> No(they have upgraded aircon for obvious reasons) but they are based on DB double-deck designs used from at least the 1990's, as they are built at Bombardier's Gorlitz plant:
> http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/...receives-Israeli-double-deck-coach-order.aspx
> 
> http://www.bombardier.com/en/transp...edium-profile---israel?docID=0901260d80010308
> ...


Hi all,

I posted that first youtube clip.

can anyone explain how it could possibly have had over 35,000 views??:nuts:


----------



## k.k.jetcar (Jul 17, 2008)

> can anyone explain how it could possibly have had over 35,000 views??


Obviously there are alot of fans of your material (Germany?), maybe you should post more.


----------



## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

It's been a while since this thread has been updated, so here are some updates:

- These new locomotives - Vossloh Euro 4000 - are now in service:










Apparently another class, the Euro 3000, is due to enter service at some point. Wikipedia says that IR ordered 14 Euro 4000s and 15 euro 3000s.

- There are a lot of new Bombardier double decker trains in service. Again, I don't know how many, but I think altogether the whole consignment is a couple of hundred carriages. 
They are very similar to the older ones, but there is a pair of electric plugs above each 4 seats, and some other minor details are different too.

- The new upgraded track to Beer Sheva is due to open very soon.

- Wifi is starting to appear. The entire system is supposed to be networked eventually, but in the mean time it has been installed in a few stations and (I think) on some trains.


----------



## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

With such an efficient network as Israël, why they still use diesel instead of electric locomotives?


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

Busfotodotnl said:


> With such an efficient network as Israël, why they still use diesel instead of electric locomotives?


Not all the lines have been electrified yet.


----------



## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

mcarling said:


> Not all the lines have been electrified yet.


You would think Israel of all countries wouldn't want to be dependent on Mid-East oil :lol:


----------



## stingstingsting (Jun 5, 2010)

Silly_Walks said:


> You would think Israel of all countries wouldn't want to be dependent on Mid-East oil :lol:


Maybe the rationale is that if a power station gets... ahem... destroyed :guns1: and there's a subsequent blackout, then diesel is more reliable? hmm?


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Busfotodotnl said:


> With such an efficient network as Israël, why they still use diesel instead of electric locomotives?


The rail network in Israel isn't efficient at all. It had been neglected for decades until the early 90's when new lines were opened. The only reason that electric locomotives aren't being used is that until now, the the vast majority of the rail's development budget was used to construct new lines and not to improve the service in the existing lines.
However, there are approved plans to electrify most of the busy lines in the next few years in a project which will cost around 4 billion US$. This project has to be started in a few years, because the new Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line which will start operations in 2017-2018 cannot operate without electric locomotives because of the its long tunnels (the longest is over 11 kilometers long).


----------



## Silly_Walks (Aug 23, 2010)

stingstingsting said:


> Maybe the rationale is that if a power station gets... ahem... destroyed :guns1: and there's a subsequent blackout, then diesel is more reliable? hmm?


Maybe the rationale behind electrification is, that when Israel gets an oil boycot, they can still ride their trains


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)




----------



## 압둘라-爱- LOVE (May 17, 2012)

great ~


----------



## Suburbanist (Dec 25, 2009)

Does Israelian railways have plans to:

- electrify tracks
- build a good link with Eliat


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

When is the new Gan Yavne - Ashdod link open and how will trains run to Ashkelon after that? Both via Rehovot and via Rishon or only on one route?


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Suburbanist said:


> Does Israelian railways have plans to:
> 
> - electrify tracks
> - build a good link with Eliat





Robi_damian said:


> When is the new Gan Yavne - Ashdod link open and how will trains run to Ashkelon after that? Both via Rehovot and via Rishon or only on one route?


*Suburbanist*,
although recent budget cut-offs occurred and entailed delays in some railway projects:
- Yes. There are two lines being already built as initially electric powered: TA-Jerusalem fast line and Haifa-Carmiel line. 
Electrification project for the rest of the lines supposed to begin later in 2016-17. 
- Yes. Eilat railway project passed RFI stage and approved. Construction is expected to start somewhere in 2016-17.

*Robi_damian*, 
as far as I know IR intends to complete the link somewhere in Q3 this year or even sooner...
Is supposed to become the main line between TA and Ashdod/Ashkelon. 
Still unclear whether existing line via Lod and Rehovot will continue to operate to Ashkelon afterward.

***

Bicycle compartment in lower deck of Bombardier coach:


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Cargo railway activity in Negev desert:


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Existing "Old" railway line Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem:























































Jerusalem Malkha station in winter:





































*****

Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem fast railway line U/C (to be completed in 2017).









































































Jerusalem Umma underground station (approx. 70m depth):










Construction in progress:


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## El_Greco (Apr 1, 2005)

That looks impressive.


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

IR passenger yards/depots.

*Haifa-East:*



















*Lod:*




























*Beer-Sheva hub (U/C) - future connection station to Eilat:*


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## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

Anything known about the rolling stock for the future high speed line?

For years, i'm wondering why the network is not being electrificied? In my opinion, the relative small network would be ideal for complete electrification


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## XAN_ (Jan 13, 2011)

Busfotodotnl said:


> Anything known about the rolling stock for the future high speed line?
> 
> For years, i'm wondering why the network is not being electrificied? In my opinion, the relative small network would be ideal for complete electrification


It's seems to have some connection that Israel doesn't have major sources of uranium or coal, no significant hydroplants and until recent discoveries didn't have major natural gas supplies...
So unlike countries like Ukraine or Switherland, which have no (or nearly no) oil, but lot of local elecro-generation, Israel had no reason to pursue electrification - that would just replace oil imports with coal imports, which wouldn't be a great gain until late 00th, when liquid fuel prices started growing more violently


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

During last decade growing passenger traffic already reached structural limits of existing railway network. And since significant natural gas resources were found in Mediterranean shelf - all this pushed government to accelerate electrification program.
Unfortunately, current financial problems forced transportation ministry to reconsider priorities and pushed electrification of existing railway lines to the last stage of transportation development while construction of new railway lines was placed on top. However, two projects: Jerusalem high speed line and Carmiel line (both U/C) will be electric powered from the first day of operation.

Existing rolling stock is easily convertible for operation with electric locomotives since the most trains are push-pull type with replaceable generator units.
Regarding future high-speed lines I have no idea which system will be chosen... TA-Jerusalem line is 60 km while future TA-Eilat line is about 360 km (Ta-BS 100 km & BS-Eilat 260 km). Lines have different topology and estimated passenger capacity. All this keeping in mind that Eilat line will be used as important cargo link between Red sea and Mediterranean sea with heavy freight traffic...

Siemens is one of possible candidates for passenger segment (IR colors modelling):


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

TA Ayalon corridor is the "bottleneck" of railway infrastructure in the center of the country...


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

elab said:


> IR passenger yards/depots.
> 
> 
> *Beer-Sheva hub (U/C) - future connection station to Eilat:*


Where is this being built? Close to the North/University station or closer to the main BeerSheba station in the city center?


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

^^ BS-University station.


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

elab said:


> ^^ BS-University station.


Isn't that further from the town center? One of the peculiar things about Israeli railways is that many lines have stations way outside urban cores. Like Petah Tikva or Netanya. This is unlike Europe where stations are built as close to the city centers wherever possible.

I did notice that the new Southern like to Yavne has more stations in core areas, and this is good I think.


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

^^ Agree with you. Although this situation changes since new lines built right through metropolis suburbans, like Kfar Saba/Hod-Hasharon, Rishon HaRishonim and Yavne-Maarav you have mentioned.

*****
Atlit (approaching Haifa):


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 17, 2010)

How is TA ligthrail going? Has it started to be built already?


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> How is TA ligthrail going? Has it started to be built already?


Works in progress. TBM-machines are about to dig their first meters..


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

IC3 fast operation at coastal line:


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

The first EURO-3200 series locomotive (1303) before shipping to Israel:










http://www.railcolor.net/index.php?nav=1405330&id=5180&action=dview


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

elab said:


> The first EURO-3200 series locomotive (1303) before shipping to Israel:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


How does the truck supoort it? Locomotives can weigh dozens of tons in some cases...


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## XAN_ (Jan 13, 2011)

10 axis ;-)


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## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

That's right, but besides that building a second north-shouth corridor also accounts for the immense growth in urbanization and population along the coast line.


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## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

It's been a while since I posted here...

Anyway, here are some new pics from my daily commute:

IR has been installing a new information system in all of its stations for the past several months. It includes new, uniform electronic signs on the platforms and in the station halls. Most have illuminated orange text, but some station halls have colour LCD screens too.

This is on Platforms 3 and 4 at Modiin Central:










and this is in the main hall:










Sorry about the photo quality. This is actually quite a small one. There is a bigger one currently being installed above the main escalators going down into the station. 

The system also includes new audio announcements on the platforms. I don't know whether it is connected, but the installation of this new system also coincided with a really dramatic improvement in punctuality of the trains recently.

IR also started accepting the Rav-Kav card about six months ago. This is the notional equivalent of London's Oyster - a chargeable card that can be used on buses and trains all over the country. To use it on the train, you have to charge it with train tickets; either a monthly pass or regular tickets - you can't charge it with cash and pay as you go. There are two types of card readers.

Red ones, as here in Modiin Central:










and black ones, as here at Herzliya. These seem to be used on the suburban lines, but I don't know what the difference is, other than that they seem to have more of them in each station:










R.


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Poleshet rail junction near Ashdod is completed.
Expecting to open straight traffic TA-Ashkelon via Yavne-Maarav next month 

... looking to the south:










looking to the north:


----------



## javimix19 (Mar 9, 2010)

^^

It looks great!


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

THNX 

Some aerial pics by Boaz_L of BS-line trip... "from green to yellow":

Lod railway yard:










to the south:





































Kiryat Gat:














































Laavim-Raat st. approaching desert.....




























Beer-Sheva:










BS hub U/C:



















BS terminal:


----------



## javimix19 (Mar 9, 2010)

Thank you elab, I wanted to see some photos from Beersheva and I've see here.
It's a city that I want to meet, in the middle of the desert of the Negev (what a difference between Tel Aviv and Beersheva, one is green and the other is white)


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Another clip of IC3 DMU (train of 5 3-cars modules) 160+ km/h operation:


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

*Jerusalem approves NIS 1.1b. for Light Rail extension*

http://www.jpost.com/National-News/Jerusalem-approves-NIS-11b-for-Light-Rail-extension-318044

Fair use excerpt:

"The Jerusalem Regional Planning Committee approved a NIS 1.1 billion allocation from the Transportation Ministry’s budget on Wednesday to extend the Jerusalem Light Rail line to Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center.

According to the ministry, the extension will take two years to complete and add more than 21.9 kilometers (13.6 miles) to the light rail’s current route – resulting in a total of 36.2 kilometers (22.5 miles) of tracks."


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

javimix19 said:


> Hi elab I see in your last post that Israel is planning a connection with Jordanian railways, that is great.
> Is planned more connections with Egypt and Lebanon? (I exclude Siria because it is not the moment)
> Imagine a connection with Tel Aviv-Jerusalem with Ammann and Cairo. The posibilities of tourism, commerce, etc. (Yes I know that there are political facts but I only ask about technical posibilities)
> ...


Up until about 75 years ago, when the British ruled most of the area, all of the countries' rail systems in the region were connected (though you might consider Jordan to have been only partially connected since it only had narrow gauge lines and train movement to and from Jordan was limited to the few narrow gauge branches in adjoining countries).

Very unfortunately today, essentially none of the network in Lebanon remains, In Syria it's maintained but in a low level, in Jordan only disconnected parts of the narrow gauge network operate. Railways are the backbone of Egypt's public transportation network, however, lack of maintenance is a problem. Also, despite the Egyptian government's constant promises to revive the Sinai railway line from Western Sinai to El Arish and Rafah, there has been no such work, moreover, even the part of the line that was refurbished in the Western part of the peninsula in the early 2000s has been neglected for several years now (that's part of an overall theme of the Egyptian government towards the Peninsula and its residents - with the lack of investment being one of the reasons behind the unrest there).

The "possibilities" in the region are large but in reality, only Israel and Saudi Arabia have been making very high investments in rail infrastructure. While the other countries would like to do so as well, unfortunately they don't have the means to revive and modernize their rail networks.


----------



## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Here's another video.

The 8:26 to Modiin and the 8:27 to Binyamina arrive simultaneously at Tel Aviv Central Station. The time is 8:26 am.


----------



## Rodalvesdepaula (Apr 14, 2008)

I'm suprised to see the well-developed Israeli railway system. It could be a inspiration for my land.


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

FortuneCookie said:


> Up until about 75 years ago, when the British ruled most of the area, all of the countries' rail systems in the region were connected (though you might consider Jordan to have been only partially connected since it only had narrow gauge lines and train movement to and from Jordan was limited to the few narrow gauge branches in adjoining countries).
> 
> Very unfortunately today, essentially none of the network in Lebanon remains, In Syria it's maintained but in a low level, in Jordan only disconnected parts of the narrow gauge network operate. Railways are the backbone of Egypt's public transportation network, however, lack of maintenance is a problem. Also, despite the Egyptian government's constant promises to revive the Sinai railway line from Western Sinai to El Arish and Rafah, there has been no such work, moreover, even the part of the line that was refurbished in the Western part of the peninsula in the early 2000s has been neglected for several years now (that's part of an overall theme of the Egyptian government towards the Peninsula and its residents - with the lack of investment being one of the reasons behind the unrest there).
> 
> The "possibilities" in the region are large but in reality, only Israel and Saudi


I agree with everything up to this point.



FortuneCookie said:


> While the other countries would like to do so as well, unfortunately they don't have the means to revive and modernize their rail networks.


Here I disagree. The other countries in the region have ample money to maintain and expand their rail infrastructure but choose to spend it on other things, most of which do not benefit the general population.


----------



## RoadUser (Aug 10, 2007)

Hi all,

The new 13XX series locomotives have gone into service.

I photographed this one, which was on its way to Hod Hasharon, from the 8:49 to Binyamina this morning:


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Congrats for the first photo of EURO3200 locomotive in action!! 
I gonna hunt it too!


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## [email protected] (Aug 17, 2010)

Rodalvesdepaula said:


> I'm suprised to see the well-developed Israeli railway system. It could be a inspiration for my land.


You can say that again, friend!


----------



## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

Well-developed?







That holy land there has now just taken on yet another dimension, what with their halting the tunneling of an intercity line upon belatedly realizing their boring the wrong way.


----------



## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

mcarling said:


> I agree with everything up to this point.
> 
> 
> Here I disagree. The other countries in the region have ample money to maintain and expand their rail infrastructure but choose to spend it on other things, most of which do not benefit the general population.


Well, we have to agree to strongly disagree on that.

Egypt barely has enough money to import food and Jordan is in constant crisis because they can't afford to import fuel. Lebanon can't produce enough electricity for its population. Plus, it is a lost case rail-wise since all of their previous glorious rail infrastructure has been completely destroyed and paved over and they certainly don't have enough money to rebuild everything from scratch. Syria is a total mess with a collapsing economy. It's very simple, these are poor countries which cannot afford the capital investments required for a modern rail system. It is what it is.

Yes, they spend all their money on other things... things like food, fuel and electricity. Obviously those things *have* to come before putting money into a rail system. It's not a matter of choice.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

trainrover said:


> Well-developed?
> 
> 
> 
> ...


As far as I know, they found out to be around 60 centimeters off-course after around 4-5 kilometers of boring, out of over 11.6 kilometers. The full effects of the mistake aren't clear yet.



mcarling said:


> Here I disagree. The other countries in the region have ample money to maintain and expand their rail infrastructure but choose to spend it on other things, most of which do not benefit the general population.


Pretty much only oil-rich countries in the Middle East have extra money, and they seem to prefer subsidizing gasoline over investing in public transportation.


----------



## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

^^ Oh really? coz one of their English-language dailies over there down-played the ****-up, claiming the distance bored to be dozens of metres.


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

FortuneCookie said:


> Egypt barely has enough money to import food and Jordan is in constant crisis because they can't afford to import fuel. Lebanon can't produce enough electricity for its population. Plus, it is a lost case rail-wise since all of their previous glorious rail infrastructure has been completely destroyed and paved over and they certainly don't have enough money to rebuild everything from scratch. Syria is a total mess with a collapsing economy. It's very simple, these are poor countries which cannot afford the capital investments required for a modern rail system. It is what it is.
> 
> Yes, they spend all their money on other things... things like food, fuel and electricity. Obviously those things *have* to come before putting money into a rail system. It's not a matter of choice.


These countries are only poor because their leaders have embezzled billions, they have idiotic socialist regulatory burdens, screwy tax regimes that provide all the wrong incentives, and they waste billions on offensive military spending not needed for their defense. Obviously, Syria is recently a special case because of the ongoing civil jihad, but the above applied there prior to the start of the civil jihad.

They most certainly could have maintained and improved their transportation infrastructure but chose the options listed above instead.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

trainrover said:


> ^^ Oh really? coz one of their English-language dailies over there down-played the ****-up, claiming the distance bored to be dozens of metres.


Again, nobody has published the full detailes about this incident, I hope it will be clearer in a few days. Anyway, even if it was a huge mistake- it shouldn't have a big impact on the construction of the line since this tunnel is expected to be completed long before other elements of the project.


----------



## Sunfuns (Mar 26, 2012)

mcarling said:


> These countries are only poor because their leaders have embezzled billions, they have idiotic socialist regulatory burdens, screwy tax regimes that provide all the wrong incentives, and they waste billions on offensive military spending not needed for their defense. Obviously, Syria is recently a special case because of the ongoing civil jihad, but the above applied there prior to the start of the civil jihad.


Really? Let's assume European levels of corruption just for the sake of argument. How would it make them middle income or better? What is it that they are good at other than tourism? What do they export? Not even cheap labour as early days China did... In my opinion problems in those places run far deeper than just corruption by the ruling elite.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

trainrover said:


> ^^ Oh really? coz one of their English-language dailies over there down-played the ****-up, claiming the distance bored to be dozens of metres.


The question is - will the ****-up cause the entire project to go tits up?


----------



## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

mcarling said:


> These countries are only poor because their leaders have embezzled billions, they have idiotic socialist regulatory burdens, screwy tax regimes that provide all the wrong incentives, and they waste billions on offensive military spending not needed for their defense. Obviously, Syria is recently a special case because of the ongoing civil jihad, but the above applied there prior to the start of the civil jihad.
> 
> They most certainly could have maintained and improved their transportation infrastructure but chose the options listed above instead.


No, these are poor countries whose leaders embezzled billions, making them even poorer. It's that simple.


----------



## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

trainrover said:


> ^^ Oh really? coz one of their English-language dailies over there down-played the ****-up, claiming the distance bored to be dozens of metres.


Seems like an error in translation to me. What they probably meant was that there was a 60cm off-center error along several dozen meters (1 to 2 days of boring work), certainly not that the tunnels themselves are dozens of meters off center.

It also appears that the mistake may have been made by the Italian sub-contractor that operates the TBMs.

Hopefully we'll know soon what they intend to do in order to correct the error. The finished tunnel is more than 9m wide. There may be enough "give" in there that they could just continue with the boring with minor adjustments.


----------



## trainrover (May 6, 2006)

Not the distance off-set; the distance tunnelled/bored...therefore, there must be a discrepancy in the reporting, not anything to do with any presumed translation (i.e., dozens of metres vs. 4 to 5 Km).


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

^^ Recent report from the place (A1, north tunnel) by Tapuz user *easyn*:

entrance:










Service narrow-gauge in action:










locomotive:










cars for concrete sections transportation:










passenger coach:



















control panel:










in Russian (TBM and other equipment operated by MosMetroStroy - subcontractor):










Look inside:



















Behind TBM:



















TBM Operation cockpit:










****


----------



## Busfotodotnl (Mar 18, 2009)

*Electrification*



> *Go-ahead for Israeli electrification programme*
> 
> Israeli transport minister Mr Yisrael Katz announced on August 13 that the National Infrastructure Committee has approved the initial phase of Israel Railways' (IR) national electrification programme.
> 
> ...


More information about the project can be found here.


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

*Railway line to Eilat approved ?*

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/21949594/__Spoorlijn_naar_Eilat__.html

Article in dutch, citing the Jerusalem Post, and saying that the Israeli
government approved the building of a railway line from Beersheba to
Eilat, and mentions speeds of 220 to 260 km/h - which means a high
speed line, and therefore electrified from the start. Should be ready
in 10 years...


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

The *route* of the railway line to Eilat has been approved.
http://www.globes.co.il/serveen/globes/docview.asp?did=1000883558&fid=1725


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

MarcVD said:


> http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/21949594/__Spoorlijn_naar_Eilat__.html
> 
> Article in dutch, citing the Jerusalem Post, and saying that the Israeli
> government approved the building of a railway line from Beersheba to
> ...


Nobody knows when it will be ready. Despite recent statements made by some politicians- the project hasn't received any significant financing yet, and it's supposed to be an extremely expensive project. In addition, it's not clear how the line will be connected to Eilat's port and where the terminal in Eilat will be located.


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)




----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Some "on-the-way" shots with cellphone camera:


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

One of the new EURO-3200 locomotives at Hagana station in TA:


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

A1 TA-Jerusalem fast line September-October progress (credits to *Boaz_L*):


----------



## TinyMusic (Nov 2, 2013)

I'm surprised how good the railways are in Israel!


----------



## Sunfuns (Mar 26, 2012)

I don't think they are particularly good now, might be when most of the ongoing and planned upgrades are finished.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

A new rail station was opened on Tuesday near the city of Sderot. Because of the station's proximity to the Gaza strip (around 3 kilometers), the entire structure has a 60 centimeters thick concrete roof. The trip to Tel Aviv (~70 kilometers) takes 58 minutes.
The station is a part of a new line, which includes two more stations (currently U/C): Netivot and Ofakim. When completed (probably in 2015), the line will connect the three small cities to the Southern city of Beer Sheva and to Tel Aviv.

The main structure:









from another angle









The underground path connecting the main structure to the platforms









The shielded part of the platforms









A part of one of the platforms









During construction









Renders

































The pictures' source:
http://www.xnet.co.il/architecture/articles/0,14710,L-3104054,00.html


----------



## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

^^ Amazing station design. Is Netivot also rocket-proof?


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 17, 2010)

Is there an updated map of the system with this station?


----------



## jonasry (Feb 6, 2011)

Ah, looking at a terrain map (see: https://www.google.se/maps/@32.7341084,35.1720577,11z/data=!5m1!1e4) it's clear there's an valley from Haifa via Afula and onto Jordan (where is suddenly gets hilly again!).

And, I was guessing there are political issues also.


----------



## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

Terrain is a good argument. The increase in distance doesn't seem much a of a problem though. If you rougly follow the road 75 corridor to the soutwest of Nazareth and then take a sharp right turn south to Afula. I can't see how this would extend the track length by more than a low single digit number in km.

So I do buy the argument of costs but I don't quite get it what the point of the track is if you miss the largest city along the way. Connecting that city and creating a much more complete network would certainly be worth paying also a bigger price tag.

PS: 
Is this a correct map of that project?









http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cf/רכבת_העמק.jpg/640px-רכבת_העמק.jpg


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Old "Prima" (731 actually was the first JT42BW in Israel) in new livery caught in Hadera today:


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

Slartibartfas said:


> If you rougly follow the road 75 corridor to the soutwest of Nazareth and then take a sharp right turn south to Afula. I can't see how this would extend the track length by more than a low single digit number in km.


It looks to me like five or six kilometers just to pass by the outskirts of Nazareth, which I don't think would be useful. Passing through the center of Nazareth would add at least about eight kilometers to the route. Not worth it. There are adequate bus connections from Nazareth to both Afula and Haifa.


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Ha-Umma railway station in Jerusalem - surface hall construction site:










Central bus station and other city transportation facilities in close touch with upcoming railway terminal:


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

^^FINALY SOME PROGRESS:cheers::banana: What remains the trains


----------



## MK Tom (Oct 26, 2009)

Sorry to switch focus to the past instead of the future, but does anyone on here have photos of when Israeli Railways used old British Rail Mark II coaching stock? I've been looking around on google but I've not found as much as I'd like.

Many thanks.


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

MK Tom said:


> Sorry to switch focus to the past instead of the future, but does anyone on here have photos of when Israeli Railways used old British Rail Mark II coaching stock? I've been looking around on google but I've not found as much as I'd like.
> 
> Many thanks.


Guess, I have some interesting stock for you 
Not sure it is Mark II, but looks much the similar....










.. second coach:










..nowadays in one of Jordan valley settlements:


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## MK Tom (Oct 26, 2009)

Thanks *elab*! The first carriage in the first photo is a Mark II yes, as is the second carriage in the second photo. It's had the opening windows replaced with some kind of ventilation though - I'm sure I've seen photos of Mark IIs in their original condition in Israel too. The one in the Jordan Valley is a Mark I - see the flatter bodyside - did they work in Israel too then? Thanks again.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...ssue-bonds-worth-shekels-2bn.html?channel=522
> 
> *Israel Railways to issue bonds worth Shekels 2bn*
> Friday, January 02, 2015
> ...


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Last two years Israel railways allow transportation of non-folded bicycles, including electric-powered, and other compact personal electric vehicles in special compartments or lower decks - with no extra charge.
This way of personal mobility became very popular..


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

*Israel Railways Reports First-Ever Profit*

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-railways-reports-first-ever-profit-1000998854

Fair use excerpt:
"Israel Railways finished the first nine months of 2014 with a NIS 143.8 million profit from current activities, according to the company's third quarter reports. This is the first time since the company was founded in 2003 that the company reached black ink."


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Beit Shemesh - Jerusalem Malkha short trip (old Jerusalem line) with IC3 DMU... through Judea mountains:


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Remains of Hejaz Railway bridges in Yarmuch valley. Damascus - Samakh stage. (Syria-Jordan-Israel border junction).


----------



## Coccodrillo (Sep 30, 2005)

Thank you. Will the old line to Jerusalem be closed?


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Coccodrillo said:


> Thank you. Will the old line to Jerusalem be closed?


Still unclear... :dunno: There are several projects to keep Old Jerusalem line alive from regular railway traffic on Beit Shemesh - Jerusalem direction to operation of historical trains for tourists visiting Nahal Sorek national park, Biblical Zoo etc.


Beit Shemesh station:


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## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

While February 26, 2015 is the final submission date of the Tender for supply of 62 electrical locomotives for Israel Railways with the option for additional 16 E-locos (tender for double-deck EMU is still about to be published).... ISR uses its old and new diesel-powered rolling stock.

From the oldest G26 and G12:



















... to modern Euro4000 and Euro3200:


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

"Prima" in new livery:


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...1-link-track-contract-signed.html?channel=523
> 
> *Jerusalem A1 link track contract signed*
> Friday, February 06, 2015
> ...


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...l-traffic-continues-to-climb.html?channel=539
> 
> *Israeli rail traffic continues to climb*
> Monday, February 09, 2015
> ...


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Here's a plan for a railway to Yerucham. It branches of after Dimona station, and it looks like they're building a new Dimona station.
http://www.iroads.co.il/content/%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA-%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%97%D7%9D-%D7%93%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%94
Here's the railway to Arad, including stops at Nevatim base, and a station at Kuseife for Bedouin tribes.
http://www.iroads.co.il/content/%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%90%D7%A8-%D7%A9%D7%91%D7%A2-%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%93
Here's the early concept for the Afula - Tveria line, which will also be extended eventually to the Kiryat Shmona line that comes from Carmiel.
http://www.iroads.co.il/content/%D7%9E%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%A4%D7%95%D7%9C%D7%94-%D7%98%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%94-0


----------



## Kavim91 (May 30, 2011)

A line from Netanya Station to Kfar Yona would possibly be along Rt. 57. But I really dont see where they wanna build a Station in Ganot Hadar AND Nordiya??


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Kavim91 said:


> A line from Netanya Station to Kfar Yona would possibly be along Rt. 57. But I really dont see where they wanna build a Station in Ganot Hadar AND Nordiya??


Alright, I just asked an IR representative, and they said that it's not true. I guess the open source Wikipedia had someone write it in. But if it was true, building a station in Gannot and Nordia would be nice, because you don't get a lot of small stations.


----------



## K_ (Jan 5, 2010)

hans280 said:


> . The exception is the Eurostar terminals - and THAT has more to do with the British immigration authorities' claim to stop asylum seekers on French soil rather than their own.


And it's been a serious handicap for Eurostar. Passenger numbers are still way below expectations.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

K_ said:


> And it's been a serious handicap for Eurostar. Passenger numbers are still way below expectations.


No, I think it has to do with different EU memberships that allow open border passing, that the UK and France and Belgium aren't part of, or something like that, but in general, if we're continuing about this, then again, it's easy for you to criticize, because, most European railways aren't threatened by terrorists daily, unlike Israel.


----------



## Sunfuns (Mar 26, 2012)

I'm not the one for obsessive security, but if there is one place there that is warranted Israel would be it. No one is really trying to blow up anything in Switzerland, railways or otherwise.


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

yishbarr said:


> ... and it was stuck with the poor infrastructure built by the Ottomans...


From an historical point of view, this is not true. The railways that the
state of Israel inherited in 1948 were essentially built by the english during
the great war. The only notable exception is the valley line, but this one felt
into disuse shortly after Israel's independence. All other lines were built from
scratch by the british, or, for a few of them, widened from metric to standard
gauge (main case Tulkarem-Lydda-Jerusalem).

And by the way, it's not entirely true to say that Israel did not care about
its railways before recently. There was a lot of attention to railways in the
beginning - until the coastal railway line was built in the early 60ies. After 
that indeed, the attention shifted to roads only. But, had this early
attention not existed, and the coastal line not been built at that time,
probably Israel would be totally without railways today.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

OK, did some research, and apparently, a railway to Kfar Yona makes sense, since there is the Eastern railway branch from Tul Karem to Netanya, and in between the places, there's Kfar Yona, so once they upgrade the eastern railway, they'll probably build a station there.
http://www.nrg.co.il/online/1/ART2/332/320.html


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Old photos from earlier this year, when everything was still green from the winter.

Ofakim Station.










































Railway to Jerusalem in Nof Ayalon area.

















The tunnel goes to Modiin.
















On the left, there's the construction of the Rishon Letzion connection.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

They've been fixing stuff up on the Dimona railway, like bridges. Apparently, it has nothing to do with making the line capable of HSTs, or building the new station, but still, at least it's getting attention for the least used train in the country which will become one of the most significant ones in the near future.

On the other hand, A-BS railway will be inaugurated on Wednesday.


----------



## Jordbcn (May 27, 2007)

Hi Yishbarr. A small question: are there any plans to extend the line from Beersheva to Eilat? Last Spring, being in Aqaba, I decided to travel back to Amman through Israeli side of the river and was surprised by the high number of trucks -among the general traffic- in the road. I don't know if there is any feasability study, but IMHO, on the goods transportation side, it seems aparently that there is room enough for the extension.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Jordbcn said:


> Hi Yishbarr. A small question: are there any plans to extend the line from Beersheva to Eilat? Last Spring, being in Aqaba, I decided to travel back to Amman through Israeli side of the river and was surprised by the high number of trucks -among the general traffic- in the road. I don't know if there is any feasability study, but IMHO, on the goods transportation side, it seems aparently that there is room enough for the extension.


There is a plan for a high-speed railway, and it's even mostly approved:








However, the project's predicted cost is currently estimated at around 7 billion USD, and IMHO the predicted passenger traffic does not justify the cost. Sadly, the passenger-oriented HSR overshadowed the much more humble and feasible cargo line and I highly doubt that either of them will be constructed in the foreseeable future.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

dark_shadow1 said:


> There is a plan for a high-speed railway, and it's even mostly approved:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Not true, that was an opinion of some oppositions. People go to Eilat for tourism all the time, and they need to build this line urgently, because the new international airport in Timna is going to open, since this would be their only proper link to the center. Besides, the railway to Eilat has been in mind since the 1950s, and I think it's time they finish with it, and so does the government that confirmed it.

And yes, since Eilat port is in Eilat, it would be an additional connection to the Mediterranean besides the Suez Canal. (Where Egypt has accused Israel of "competing", but whatever).

When it does get built, it would probably become our first proper High Speed Rail, where trains travel above 210 km/h. (300 km/h in our case).


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Sooo, here we are at the Valley line during the annual "dust storm before cold weather". Posted by Netivei Yisrael.


----------



## lmark1 (Sep 9, 2015)

According time-table in the Israel railways site, first train from Beer-Sheva to Tel-Aviv via Ashkelon will go after shabbat, in the evening 19 September


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Official announcement from Israel Railways:

http://www.rail.co.il/EN/Pages/theNewDarom.aspx


----------



## lmark1 (Sep 9, 2015)

but new prices are not published,
from Netivot to Beer Sheva costs 40 shekels, from Tel Aviv to Beer Sheva 31 shekels:lol:
I choose 20 September, for example, in the site...


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

lmark1 said:


> but new prices are not published,
> from Netivot to Beer Sheva costs 40 shekels, from Tel Aviv to Beer Sheva 31 shekels:lol:
> I choose 20 September, for example, in the site...


Don't people get how computers work??? I mean, you're one out of a dozen who keep on saying this. They're not publishing new prices before the line is active, and they can't make the dates work until they upload a new system.

Anyways, looks like they're working on the Modiin Arc now.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

I'm pretty sure like most new lines it will be free for the first couple weeks.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Woonsocket54 said:


> I'm pretty sure like most new lines it will be free for the first couple weeks.


No. That was just for Sderot when they were shooting rockets from Gaza as a solidarity - empathy thing. Also, fun fact, NRL has trees planted across the rails to block the view from Gaza, so they can't launch rockets at trains.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Well, it's done. The new railway is open starting from tonight. Hopefully, on the desto screens they have implemented "Beer Sheva via Rishon Letzion" or something like that to prevent confusion. New map.


----------



## lmark1 (Sep 9, 2015)

But in the official site I continue to see strange prices - B_Sheva-Netivot - 40 NIS, B-Sheva-Tel_Aviv - 31 NIS


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

lmark1 said:


> But in the official site I continue to see strange prices - B_Sheva-Netivot - 40 NIS, B-Sheva-Tel_Aviv - 31 NIS


I don't even know anymore... It's not IR's fault BTW. The transportation ministry controls prices.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Maybe they're calculating BeerSheva-Netivot via Tel Aviv?

Anyway, when is Ofakim station opening?


----------



## Kavim91 (May 30, 2011)

Woonsocket54 said:


> Maybe they're calculating BeerSheva-Netivot via Tel Aviv?
> 
> Anyway, when is Ofakim station opening?




December probably


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Kavim91 said:


> December probably


December definitely.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

First concrete surface tracks in Israel on the Carmiel railway.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Bad news, the economy ministry banned working on infrastructure on Shabbat/Saturday. That means, the railway to Jlem might be delayed by 2 years and electrification also if IR doesn't do something.

Normally, as a religious person, I would've supported this, but this is quite a sudden choice that Deri made, making non Jews lose their jobs, and that it leaves soldiers who are stranded nowhere in danger, because they won't have trains after Shabbat, because the infrastructure won't be ready. This is a bad choice, and it involves life threatening situations.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

yishbarr said:


> Bad news, the economy ministry banned working on infrastructure on Shabbat/Saturday. That means, the railway to Jlem might be delayed by 2 years and electrification also if IR doesn't do something.
> 
> Normally, as a religious person, I would've supported this, but this is quite a sudden choice that Deri made, making non Jews lose their jobs, and that it leaves soldiers who are stranded nowhere in danger, because they won't have trains after Shabbat, because the infrastructure won't be ready. This is a bad choice, and it involves life threatening situations.


1. It wasn't a complete ban- the "ban" meant that the approval of the relevant minister (minister of transportation in IR's case) was required in order to work on Satuarday.
2. Since IR didn't actually get the official papers from the ministry of economy, Israel's high court postponed the ban for now.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

dark_shadow1 said:


> 1. It wasn't a complete ban- the "ban" meant that the approval of the relevant minister (minister of transportation in IR's case) was required in order to work on Satuarday.
> 2. Since IR didn't actually get the official papers from the ministry of economy, Israel's high court postponed the ban for now.


Yeah, but politics is really fickle, and I don't want to dig into it to soon.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Bet Shean Station.


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

Many tanks. It is not visible on your pictures but I love the way old hedjaz railway structures have been integrated in the surroundings of this station. 

Envoyé de mon GT-I9505 en utilisant Tapatalk


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Photos of Hauma Terminal. Bloody massive underground building. Has big halls, platforms, entrance with an open roof and some weird stuff, like street lights in the interior. Didn't notice how big it was until now.


----------



## Nexis (Aug 7, 2007)

Is it possible for you to resize the photos?


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Nexis said:


> Is it possible for you to resize the photos?


I don't know. They're not my photos, and I'm not going to spend extra time resizing them. Zooming out works.


----------



## Peteralt (Oct 15, 2012)

Does anyone know anything about the line that China recently said they will finance from Ashdod (or Ashquelon) to Eilat? Is this supposed to be a high speed rail line and why am I not seeing this in the map of Israel Railways future plans?


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Peteralt said:


> Does anyone know anything about the line that China recently said they will finance from Ashdod (or Ashquelon) to Eilat? Is this supposed to be a high speed rail line and why am I not seeing this in the map of Israel Railways future plans?


It is in the map. And yes, it is a High speed line. Except that it's from Beer Sheva to Eilat, so freight trains would go from Beer Sheva to Ashdod on existing lines.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Reuced size Photos (not all of them) from Kfar Daniel Junction


----------



## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

^^

Is this the junction between the Modi´in and Jerusalem lines?


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Robi_damian said:


> ^^
> 
> Is this the junction between the Modi´in and Jerusalem lines?


Yeah. Apparently, the connection to the Modiin branch itself will be done by 2019.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Railway Gazette:



> http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...iew/view/haifa-railway-to-go-underground.html
> 
> *Haifa railway to go underground*
> 09 Nov 2015
> ...


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

A few weeks ago, the tender for Modiin arc was published a few weeks ago.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

SEMI, a part of the Spanish ACS group, has won one of the main tenders in IR's electrification project. SEMI will be paid 2 billion NIS (~500 million USD).
http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...ew/view/electrification-contract-awarded.html


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

The number of passengers using IR's trains in November was 4.9 million, breaking August 2015's monthly record of 4.77 million passengers. November's record is a 10% increase from November 2014.
http://www.port2port.co.il/article/הובלה-יבשתית/הובלה-ברכבת/שיא-נוסעים-חדש-ברכבת/


----------



## lmark1 (Sep 9, 2015)

On 2 January, in the evening, Ofakim railway station will be opened.


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

*December 29, 2015*
Ha-Umma station in Jerusalem. Surface hall construction update:


----------



## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

Great progress on Ha Umma station! I hope the old, abandoned buildings between the tram tracks and the street will also be revitalized in the near future.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

*Ofakim station*

Ofakim station has opened.
Here are photos from Israel Railways' facebook account (https://www.facebook.com/irail):














































The new station is on the "red" line - just northwest of Beer Sheva:


----------



## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

Why did they write "Tachanat Ofakim" and "Ofakim station" on the platform signs? Usually it's only the town's name...


----------



## jonathanNCJ (Jan 26, 2014)

simply love the white stoned buildings?


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 17, 2010)

Are there plans to get to Carmiel?


----------



## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

[email protected] said:


> Are there plans to get to Carmiel?


I think that line is almost finished, actually. Wasn't it supposed to open in 2017?


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Robi_damian said:


> I think that line is almost finished, actually. Wasn't it supposed to open in 2017?


I don't know. There are stupid demands from Haifa to delay the electrification and I guess the tunnels are just short enough to allow diesels to use them temporarily. It should open in 2017, but it won't be electric until they finish with the Haifa customs station.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

rheintram said:


> Why did they write "Tachanat Ofakim" and "Ofakim station" on the platform signs? Usually it's only the town's name...


I don't know. When Paatei Modiin was opened, it was known as "Modiin Station" until they opened the terminal. They also have strange locations. Hod hasharon is actually closer to Kfar Saba and vice versa.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

jonathanNCJ said:


> simply love the white stoned buildings?


We don't use bricks in Israel that much. The building itself is concrete and the stones are just covers. In case you didn't notice, the train bridge is in the background.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...lus-7bn-rail-investment-plan.html?channel=522
> 
> *Israel approves $US 7bn rail investment plan*
> Thursday, February 04, 2016
> ...


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

dimlys1994 said:


> From Rail Journal:


It's a pretty modest plan- electrification and new electric depots are a must anyway because of the new Jerusalem line which can't be operated by diesel trains and without a new signalling system, IR won't be able to increase the capacity of the 3 existing rails in the Ayalon corridor, where the vast majority of the lines pass. 
The only significant project here which isn't a "must have" is the Rishon-Lezion-Modiin line, and especially the part between Ha'Rishonim and Moshe-Dayan stations which is supposed to pass within West Rishon-Leziyon, and might prove to be a bureaucratical nightmare because of opposition from residents who live near the line's projected path (although those plans had been made long before their homes were constructed) and from Rishon's municipality (although this line will provide great public transportation to tens of thousands of people).

Anyway, it should be noted that some of the rail projects financed by Israel's MoT are missing from IR's development plan bacause they are actually managed by another governmental company, National Roads Company of Israel.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Raiway Gazette:



> http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/...srael-railways-expands-double-deck-fleet.html
> 
> *Israel Railways expands double-deck fleet*
> 21 Mar 2016
> ...


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

http://hamodia.com/2016/04/06/record-ridership-israel-railways-march/



> *Record Ridership on Israel Railways in March*
> By Dror Halavi
> 
> Wednesday, April 6, 2016 at 7:37 am | כ"ז אדר ב' תשע"ו
> ...


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...leted-on-israels-valley-line.html?channel=539
> 
> *Tracklaying completed on Israel's Valley Line*
> Wednesday, April 13, 2016
> ...


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

> *Israel Railways considers underground Tel Aviv tracks
> railways *
> 
> http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-railways-considers-underground-tel-aviv-tracks-1001117481


.............


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

Alstom trains get new liveries (although not all coaches already got new paint):

















(credits for last photo: Shmuel Wolf - Tapuz)


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

^^

exelent. i hope that the bombardier DD also get a new color too. ( must be blue ! ) 

in other news ...



> Boaz Tzafrir to step down as Israel Railways CEO
> 
> _During Tzafrir's five years in charge, passenger traffic on Israel Railways increased by 50%, punctuality stabilized at 96%, and for the first time after decades of losses the company reported two successive years of net profit._


http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-boaz-tzafrir-to-step-down-as-israel-railways-ceo-1001118418

This guy implement a very sucesfull business model in the company, i hope and pray that IR will be work with CEO and people that know about bussines insted of bring politicians to the company !


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

> Israel Railways to expand bike parking at stations
> 
> _*The pilot program will offer 20-30 more spots for bicycles at three stations in Tel Aviv and Herzliya.
> *_


http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-railways-to-expand-bike-parking-at-stations-1001117508


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> http://hamodia.com/2016/04/06/record-ridership-israel-railways-march/


The main reason of this huge increase is a reform in the pricing of public transportation in Israel, which significantly lowered train rides' costs and included IR's routes within the popular monthly bus pass, which made train rides practically free for hundreds of thousands of Israelis who use buses on a daily basis.


----------



## BE0GRAD (May 29, 2010)

How prevalent is the rail transport in Israel compared to other forms of transportation?


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

I have been there and travelled Tel-Aviv - Jerusalem and Haifa - Tel Aviv. Trains were 
quite loaded on both trips, although much less for the final leg into Jerusalem because 
this part is slow and the station not very conveniently located. Otherwise you could 
easily compare the Israeli railways with any European commuter operation. There would 
likely be even more passengers if there were more trains, that's why the network is still 
expanding. There are major places, like Tiberias, where the trains still don't go. The major
hindrance for me is that not trains run during Shabbat...


----------



## BE0GRAD (May 29, 2010)

Does the state promote rail transport? Israel is small and denselly populated enough so that rail can be the main form of transportation and make transportation in general much more effective.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

BE0GRAD said:


> How prevalent is the rail transport in Israel compared to other forms of transportation?


Pretty negligible actually, only around 2-3% of the total number of passenger trips. The number of passengers using buses is around 10 times higher than the number of passengers using the train.


----------



## googlas (Jan 18, 2012)

dark_shadow1 said:


> The main reason of this huge increase is a reform in the pricing of public transportation in Israel, which significantly lowered train rides' costs and included IR's routes within the popular monthly bus pass, which made train rides practically free for hundreds of thousands of Israelis who use buses on a daily basis.


how were railways able to generate profit?


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

BE0GRAD said:


> Does the state promote rail transport? Israel is small and denselly populated enough so that rail can be the main form of transportation and make transportation in general much more effective.


Yes, the gob suport economicly the operations of ISR. IN 2012 finally ISR give their first profits. now, the Israeli gov. finnance 60% of the operations of the company. 

In cases like ISR, is not his final mission to be a profit company. One of the reasons is because ISR is seen as a public service, and that means that the tickets must be affordable, lets remember that israel suffers of a cronical pricing crisis. 

In the next years ISR want to be more profitable working in publicity + real state (next to stations, more commercial areas etc ) and develop a cargo division. (its the biggest project at the time in ISR, after the electrification proyect ), this new division of ISR will be 49% ISR and the next 51% will be part of a private partner.


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

dark_shadow1 said:


> Pretty negligible actually, only around 2-3% of the total number of passenger trips. The number of passengers using buses is around 10 times higher than the number of passengers using the train.


Are you sure of your numbers ? ISR is increasing the number of passenger in a 10 to 15% per year, the convervative estimates that ISR will transport 300 million passengers per year in 2040, but i think that number can be accomplished, before, maybe in 2030, lets remember that with the new lines + the new ETCS + the electrification program the company can expand enormously his train offer.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

toquielkan said:


> Are you sure of your numbers ? ISR is increasing the number of passenger in a 10 to 15% per year, the convervative estimates that ISR will transport 300 million passengers per year in 2040, but i think that number can be accomplished, before, maybe in 2030, lets remember that with the new lines + the new ETCS + the electrification program the company can expand enormously his train offer.


Absolutely. There are around 650 million passengers per year using Israeli buses, compared to only 50-55 million rail passengers. Despite years-long stagnation in the number of bus passengers, they are still by far the most popular form of public transportation in Israel, mainly because they simply have superb coverage: There are hundreds of different bus lines and thousands of bus stations, compared to only 10 rail lines which serve around 50 train stations.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...ches-a1-link-telecoms-tender.html?channel=533
> 
> *Israel Railways launches A1 link telecoms tender*
> Tuesday, May 24, 2016
> ...


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

dark_shadow1 said:


> Absolutely. There are around 650 million passengers per year using Israeli buses, compared to only 50-55 million rail passengers. ... There are hundreds of different bus lines and thousands of bus stations, compared to only 10 rail lines which serve around 50 train stations.


Well it would be interesting to know the modal split where different options can
be used for the same journey. 

All trains I have used were well patronized, except on the final stretch towards
Jerusalem, I suppose due to the poor location of the station in this city.


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

MarcVD said:


> Well it would be interesting to know the modal split where different options can
> be used for the same journey.
> 
> All trains I have used were well patronized, except on the final stretch towards
> Jerusalem, I suppose due to the poor location of the station in this city.


No, the location os actually next to Malcha shopping centre where many people go to. The problem is the bendy route which takes 45 minutes, which is quite a long time between Bet Shemesh and Malcha.


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

> *Banner First Quarter for Israel Railways
> By Dror Halavy
> 
> Friday, May 27, 2016 at 4:13 am | י"ט אייר תשע"ו*


http://hamodia.com/2016/05/27/banner-first-quarter-israel-railways/


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Shebatashtiot's new tour of Uma station.
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=635365766615232&id=373566349461843


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

> *8 cos interested in Israel Railways electric cars tender
> *
> _Companies from China, India, Japan, Korea, France, Germany, the Czech Republic and Canada attended a meeting today about the tender.
> _
> ...


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

The first video of the new color of the alstom trains of ISR. Lets remember that this units came to Israel in 1996 so, are with the Alstom Prima JT the oldest units in Israel. This units were assambled in Israel by Haargaz

I´m glad to see that ISR is now working as a efficient company, this have been made after a long work made by a responsable CEO ( a real CEO, not a former politican or a former military commander ) and by a modern Organizational Structure formed by people that know how the bussines work. 

The blue color (same design used by the siemens vaggio) is now more representative of the company i really hope that in the future the bombardier´s DD use the same color. 


https://youtu.be/du-tD3TWu1M


----------



## zvir (Aug 19, 2009)

*targets of mass transportation*



dark_shadow1 said:


> Absolutely. There are around 650 million passengers per year using Israeli buses, compared to only 50-55 million rail passengers. Despite years-long stagnation in the number of bus passengers, they are still by far the most popular form of public transportation in Israel, mainly because they simply have superb coverage: There are hundreds of different bus lines and thousands of bus stations, compared to only 10 rail lines which serve around 50 train stations.


This is a very basic description and does not reflect the huge sucsess of the rail. in israel.

in my opinions the targets of the heavy rail should should be:

1.Be the main transportaion link between the 4 city centers, and this will be complete in 2018 when the new fast line to jerusalem is completed.

2.the main tool for daily commuters to get to the city centers and back, and this is the target with expending the coast line, the ayalon corridor, the new ayalon south-ashkelon-beer sheba line and the new sharon line to be opened late 2017. 

of course the train does not aim to compete with city or rural buses. they will continue to feed the rail mainline if needed.


----------



## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

> *Israel Builds Railway in Hope of Boosting Commerce With Arab Neighbors
> *RORY JONES/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
> WSJ


http://www.wsj.com/articles/israel-...sting-commerce-with-arab-neighbors-1466614190


----------



## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

> *Travelling the tracks to connect Israel's largest two cities*
> 
> The construction seems endless, but only a year and a half allegedly remain until the 28-minute high-speed train between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is to open; Ofer Petersburg traveled the section of it leading to the capital, containing Israel's longest bridge, its highest, a nature reserve, and the Mideast's largest tunnel.












more pictures in the article:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4825986,00.html


----------



## elab (Sep 18, 2009)

TLV-JRS fast Line (A1) progress.
Credits for photos to *Alexi03* from TAPUZ forums!










http://img2.timg.co.il/forums/33/1280_0_d9d39db0-8df0-4c53-bc99-76264d36e7bc.jpeg










http://img2.timg.co.il/forums/33/1280_0_01fe3c2f-115c-449b-95a5-a99bc5bd4d7a.jpeg


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

New "Valley Line" railway between Haifa and Beit Shean opens 2016.10.16

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-railways-completes-haifa-beit-shean-line-1001143118

There will be five stations:

1. Haifa
2. Kfar Yehoshua
3. Migdal Ha'Emek
4. Afula 
5. Beit Shean

Is the Haifa station a new station in Haifa or an existing station on the north-south trunk line?


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

The Haifa station will be the existing one. However, I think that the future Haifa South station may be on the Valley Line.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

00Zy99 said:


> The Haifa station will be the existing one.


Which one? There appear to be 3 train stations in Haifa.


----------



## Hebrewtext (Aug 18, 2004)

Tel Aviv Savidor station extention works


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

Woonsocket54 said:


> Which one? There appear to be 3 train stations in Haifa.


Presumably Haifa Center. Its called "Center", its the closest one to the junction, and its roughly where the historical terminus was.


----------



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

I found this map and appears that Haifa East station will be the new one - line and new planned stations are marked in red:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Israeli-Palestinian_Railways.svg


----------



## MarcVD (Dec 1, 2008)

dimlys1994 said:


> I found this map and appears that Haifa East station will be the new one


This is the station close to the old Hedjaz railways station, and to the
railway museum, right ?


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

MarcVD said:


> This is the station close to the old Hedjaz railways station, and to the
> railway museum, right ?


It is in the same general area, yes. But I am not certain about them actually being in the same spot. It is possible, though.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

So Haifa East will only serve this line or also north-south trains?


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

Its on the North-South route, so probably at least some trains will stop there. And some Valley trains will probably continue through to Tel Aviv or something.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

dimlys1994 said:


> I found this map and appears that Haifa East station will be the new one - line and new planned stations are marked in red:
> https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/22/Israeli-Palestinian_Railways.svg


The new station will be close to the existing Haifa Lev-Hamifratz station, adjacent to Merkazit Ha'Mifratz bus station.










The existing railway can be seen at the top of the picture, the new rail with the new station at the bottom left, and the renovated Merkazit Ha'Mifratz bus station between them.


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

Given the configuration of the station, and its relatively awkward location, I would expect most trains to run through.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

00Zy99 said:


> Its on the North-South route, so probably at least some trains will stop there. And some Valley trains will probably continue through to Tel Aviv or something.





00Zy99 said:


> Given the configuration of the station, and its relatively awkward location, I would expect most trains to run through.


The new station is not on the existing coastal railway, so obviously none of the trains in existing lines will use it. All of the train using the new valley line will stop on it. It probably won't be a good station for changing trains, but many passengers will probably use it in order to change to a bus.
In addition, the valley line is expected to terminate in Atlit station.


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

dark_shadow1 said:


> The new station is not on the existing coastal railway, so obviously none of the trains in existing lines will use it. All of the train using the new valley line will stop on it. It probably won't be a good station for changing trains, but many passengers will probably use it in order to change to a bus.
> In addition, the valley line is expected to terminate in Atlit station.


The new station apparently IS on the coastal railway, or close enough that it can be regarded as the same station.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

00Zy99 said:


> The new station apparently IS on the coastal railway, or close enough that it can be regarded as the same station.


The new station is called "Lev Ha'Mifratz East" in most maps.


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

Its the same building complex. That's close enough that it is really arguing semantics.


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

I think whether or not it's the same station will depend on factors like each passenger's fondness for or aversion to walking, whether or not the passenger has luggage, etc. Hopefully, there would be an indoor/underground/covered connection for pedestrians.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

so all trains will terminate in Atlit? Is that because there's no spare capacity to through-route to Gush Dan?


----------



## BE0GRAD (May 29, 2010)

I'm guessing Valley line is that expensive due to land expropriation costs. Does someone know the chronology of its construction?


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> so all trains will terminate in Atlit? Is that because there's no spare capacity to through-route to Gush Dan?


Probably that, in addition to the fact that the coastal railway will be electrified well before the valley line. The planned lines and train frequencies (each single line represents 1 train per hour per direction) in 2020 can be seen in the following map- the valley railway is the dark-red line to the top-right, Karmiel-Jerusalem is in pink. The names of the stations on the valley railway are, from right to left:
-Beit Shean
-Afula
-Kfar Baruch
-Kfar Yehoshua
-Lev HaMifratz East
-Haifa Center HaShmona
-Haifa Bat Galim
-Haifa Hof HaCarmel
-Atlit


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Trains can't go south to Dan probably because of capacity issues and the fact that you're basically going in 2 different directions, making the coaches more worth it than trains. That will change once they get the Iron railway done, but that's not happening until a bunch of other projects are complete.


----------



## Hebrewtext (Aug 18, 2004)

the Valley line rail











the working on the tunnels near Afulah


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

dark_shadow1 said:


>


Not a big fan of this map.

If I am traveling from Afula to Nahariya and I don't have a lot of luggage, it won't be too much of a hassle to change trains at Kanyon Lev HaMifratz, but this map makes it seem it would be a long walk. I wonder if through-ticketing from Afula to Nahariya will contemplate changing at Lev Hamifratz or at Haifa-8.


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

yishbarr said:


> Trains can't go south to Dan probably because of capacity issues and the fact that you're basically going in 2 different directions, making the coaches more worth it than trains. That will change once they get the Iron railway done, but that's not happening until a bunch of other projects are complete.


The Iron railway will be along route 65 from Hadera to Afula, correct?

Would you happen to have a complete list of all of the proposed projects, and their priority/timeframe?


----------



## yishbarr (May 31, 2015)

Well, in order for the Iron railway to even exist, you have to upgrade the inland eastern railway where it branches off first. That should be a priority, but for now, the next railway to be built would be the Modiin-Rishon line. (It branches off Hadera east).

I don't have a list of the project's details, but the MoT has set up the funds for the Modiin railway construction, and the eastern line isn't part of this.


----------



## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

^^ What rolling stock will the valley line use? With so few stations (some at town outskirts, to boot) I imagine that capacity per train set does not need to be really huge.


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Woonsocket54 said:


> Not a big fan of this map.
> 
> If I am traveling from Afula to Nahariya and I don't have a lot of luggage, it won't be too much of a hassle to change trains at Kanyon Lev HaMifratz, but this map makes it seem it would be a long walk. I wonder if through-ticketing from Afula to Nahariya will contemplate changing at Lev Hamifratz or at Haifa-8.


It's just a map showing IR's lines and train frequencies in 2020, passengers will obviously get a different map.


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

A video showing construction at the new Jerusalem central railway station

https://www.jerusalemconstructionnews.com/2016/08/03/watch-undergound-in-the-hauma-railway-station/


----------



## 00Zy99 (Mar 4, 2013)

Bravo! Bravo!

An excellent video. Very informative and engaging.


----------



## Rail_Serbia (May 29, 2009)

Hebrewtext said:


> the Valley line rail
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What is the point of cut and cover tunnel, if it is not a metro?

Why not just have few times cheaper excavation?


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

Rail_Serbia said:


> What is the point of cut and cover tunnel, if it is not a metro?
> 
> Why not just have few times cheaper excavation?


A new neighbourhood will be built pretty close to the new line, so the tracks were built inside a cut and cover tunnel preemptively.


----------



## Bart_LCY (Feb 10, 2006)

Jerusalem Binyanei HaUma Railway Station video from IBA News VOD YouTube channel:


----------



## dark_shadow1 (May 24, 2009)

As a part of the works to add a Southern terminal to Hashalom train station in Tel-Aviv, the base of the new terminal was put in place during the weekend:


----------



## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

Reuters story from yesterday about Jerusalem-Tel Aviv rail (with photos):

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-railway-idUSKCN11C1MB


----------



## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

> Train stations in Tel Aviv will be temporarily closed starting Monday September 19 for 8 days as infrastructural work begins on the railways to install Israel’s first ever electric train.


http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4853121,00.html

great... just when I arrive in Israel


----------



## mcarling (Nov 1, 2008)

*The new Hadera-Lod railway will bypass the Greater Tel Aviv region*

http://www.globes.co.il/en/article-israel-railways-planning-new-north-south-line-1001152606

Fair use excerpt:

"Israel Railways has begun planning a new north-south line, which will bypass the Greater Tel Aviv area, "Yediot Ahronot" reports. The new line from Hadera to Lod will link northern and southern Israel in terms of trains without entering Tel Aviv, just as Road 6 does for the country's highway system."


----------



## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*Electrification and construction electric train service center in Ashkelon*
Israel Railways has put a very nice animation video on Youtube about the completed construction with new Siemens Desiro HC regional trains:

















In Ashkelon electrification has started in March 2020. Here is a real life video from early April 2020 about the status of electrification in Ashkelon and the construction of the Siemens electric train service center in Ashkelon:


----------



## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Test of Israel Railways Desiro HC in Wegberg-Wildenrath, Germany. This is the 6022, a 6 unit version. There is also a 4 unit version ordered for IR.
There are also tests of this train at a climate chamber in Wien, Austria. First deliveries to Israel expected not earlier than September 2020.


----------



## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Corona crisis had the result that the Spanish electrification company SEMI has not enough pillars within a month. 
The pillars are made in Spain, where the factories are closed. It are called HEB pillars. 
There are no factories in Israel who can make them. They only can make a pillar with an alternative construction, called V-shape pillar.
V-shape pillars consist of two thin pillars joined with V-shaped metal sections in the space between them, rather than one piece of steel about half the size of it.
It is possible that new electrification railroad on Ashkelon-Tel Aviv will use these pillars with V-shape.

In my opinion are the HEB pillars (picture above) actually looking better than the pillars with V-shape (see below).


----------



## Jordbcn (May 27, 2007)

As far as I know, factories are starting to open from today, so I expect production will be resumed.


----------



## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

They could also use concrete pillars instead.


----------



## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Jordbcn said:


> As far as I know, factories are starting to open from today, so I expect production will be resumed.


Thanks for the good news that people return to work in Spain today to produce HEB profiles again. May God protect them.


----------



## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

rheintram said:


> They could also use concrete pillars instead.


Yes, indeed there are construction companies in Israel capable to make concrete pillars for railroad electrification, such as Shikun and Binui Solel in Haifa.
Disadvantages are that concrete is another material than steel as SEMI uses and the pillars may be wider. Changing from steel pillars to concrete requires new techniques that may delay the electrification.
However, it will be good for Israel's economy and there are many examples of railroads electrified with concrete pillars, like this one in Germany:


----------



## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*Electrification progress Tel Aviv Savidor - Tel Aviv University*







As you can see on the video of 11 April 2020, about 30% has been electrified from Tel Aviv Savidor to Tel Aviv University.
It is reasonable to expect that with the Corona crisis, electrification can be completed to Tel Aviv University at the end of May 2020.










TA University is the last railway station in Tel Aviv that has to be electrified. When the SEMI company can complete this, a critical path in the electrification has been passed.
The remaining section TA University - Herzliya has 4 tracks, with the possibility to switch to any track.
This makes it possible to electrify 2 tracks and later the remaining ones, so that the line Tel Aviv - Haifa can be used all the time. It is also possible to redirect trains to Haifa via Bnei Brak and Ra’anana.
Based on the much earlier electrification progress to TA Savidor and TA University it is not impossible that at the end of 2020, the whole line Jerusalem - Herzliya can be opened for commercial passenger travel.


----------



## Mathias Olsen (Jun 6, 2016)

Ring railroad Greater Tel Aviv in 2025

There will be a new line as the southern part of a 100 km ring line of Greater Tel Aviv. The northern part is in the middle of Highway 531 and opened in July 2018.
The new 30km electrified line go from Rishon Le-Zion Moshe Dayan station to Jerusalem Navon on the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv high speed line via Rishon Le-Zion Harishonim, Anava and Modi’in.

Electra, a construction company from Israel, has received in September 2019 an order to build a southern railway route connecting Modi'in and Rishon Lezion along Road 431.
There will be 3 tunnels with total length of 450 m and 6 km of bridges to be constructed.
Master piece will be a 3.5 km-long viaduct between the Kiryat Rishon Le-Zion road interchange and Rishon Le-Zion Harishonim. This will become Israel's longest railway bridge.











New stations will be at Ramla South and Rishon Le-Zion Rhombus.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

More details about the Siemens Desiro HC for Israel










Picture above is train number 4031, a 4-carriages train. 

Israel Railways has ordered at 108 Siemens motorized cars to be delivered in a configuration of 4 and 6 carriages, 
each set will include two carriages at its end an integral automatic connection for compressed air, emergency braking electric circuit and all control and control systems.
A number of 6 trainsets of 4-carriages together with 18 trainsets of 6-carriages are scheduled to arrive in Israel in October 2020.

During quiet times a trainset with 4-carriages or 6-carriages should be sufficient.
During rush hours, also combinations of 10, 12 and maybe 14 carriages can be used.
Mixing different trainsets is easy and doesn't take much time, because the end cars have automatic-integral connectors.

For more info, see the Siemens Desiro HC fact sheet:

https://assets.new.siemens.com/siem...395666/mo-desiro-hc-broschuere-en-preview.pdf


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## Christof_DHC (Mar 5, 2020)

Just to align: ISR has a contract with Siemens for a total of *60* train sets Desiro HC Israel in a four-car configuration or a six-car configuration.

The first lot (24 trainsets) will be delivered as follows: 6 four-car units and 18 six-car units.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Christof_DHC said:


> Just to align: ISR has a contract with Siemens for a total of *60* train sets Desiro HC Israel in a four-car configuration or a six-car configuration.
> 
> The first lot (24 trainsets) will be delivered as follows: 6 four-car units and 18 six-car units.


Sure. It will be interesting to see new photos or videos of the Siemens train sets in Germany or Israel.


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*Electrification Herzliya in September completed and to Haifa will start in 2020*










Railway construction is booming to take advantage of empty railways. Plan was to electrify Savidor-Herzliya in September 2021, but thanks to Corona crisis and good management of the government, it will be September 2020.
When Israel railroads will re-open after Corona crisis on 17 May 2020, the line Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Hahagana will be extended to Tel Aviv Savidor.
After September 2020 the Tel Aviv-Ashkelon line will be completed. The electrification Herzliya-Haifa will begin already this year !!!

Israel is using the coronavirus crisis to up construction efforts
N12 - בזכות הקורונה - הקדמה של שנה בפתיחת קו הרכבת מירושלים...
מנכ"ל הרכבת: החשמול מחיפה להרצליה יתחיל ב-2020 - כלבו – חיפה והקריות


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

coolstuff said:


> When Israel railroads will re-open after Corona crisis on 17 May 2020, the line Jerusalem-Tel Aviv Hahagana will be extended to Tel Aviv Savidor.


Unfortunately this will not be the case. Trains from Jerusalem will stop on 17 May at Tel Aviv Defense Station. Passengers have to wait till 1 June 2020 to go to Savidor.
Trains from the north to Tel Aviv will stop on 17 May at Netanya. All priority has been given for electrification of Savidor - Herzliya. Because of ongoing electrification works, the line Tel Aviv - Ashkelon will operate again on only one track. First Ashkelon station will be electrified, then all the way to Tel Aviv of one track, later the other track.
Minister of Transport Smutrich has the courage to give priority for the electrification, because otherwise it will take longer and more disturbtion for rail passengers and it will be also much more expensive. Many electric locomotives cannot be used now, and new Siemens trainsets in future cannot be used, because there are not enough electrified railways.

Netanya and Tel Aviv: the railway's partial operating plan


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

Cab view of train ride from Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon to Tel Aviv HaHagana:






Electrification news: After years of delays in implementing the eletrification plan, a few months ago Israel Railways and SEMI signed a new agreement meant to speed up railway electrification. As part of the plan SEMI will receive an incentive if it accomplishes milestones early, will bring additional work crews to Israel and be allowed to hire a bunch of Israeli subcontractors (who are already deployed and working at multiple railways around Tel Aviv).


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

*Maintenance railroad viaduct near Jerusalem*










Just before railroad service will open at 1 June, there has been an inspection of Bridge 10, with a height of 95 meters, Israel's highest railroad viaduct near Jerusalem.
A team of 35 people is making sure the quality of the bridge.


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## Jordbcn (May 27, 2007)

berlinwroclaw said:


> *Maintenance railroad viaduct near Jerusalem*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can still remember the nightmare to cross under it while the highway was still on works... 😓


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*ACCELARATION ELECTRIFICATION AFTER DELAY RE-OPENING RAILROADS*










We can't wait to see world-class electric trains operating on brand-new high-tech electrified railroad in Tel Aviv City. First the new Ministry of Transport Miriam Regev said the railways will open on 8 June. However now it has been decided not be re-opened soon after Corona-crisis. There is no expectation of resuming its activities.

This is not the first time the re-opening has been rejected. In May, the government approved the operation of the railways under restrictive conditions. The government has to do now investigation about the status of operating the train in light of the rise in morbidity data. There is a discussion to limit the number of passengers in the trains and to keep a record of their identities, so that a sick person with Coroana virus can be diagnosed on a train.Final: Israel Railways will not return to action tomorrow, and there is no expectation of renewed activity

But every disadvantage has its advantage. The delay of the re-opening will accelerate electification works in Ashkelon and Tel Aviv - Herzliya lines.


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

RE-OPENING RAILROADS










On 22 June railroads were re-opened after Corona crisis. Funny to see that trains came back with a mask on front side to remind you that there is a duty to wear a mask at all times.

Re-opening has been rejected many times during May and June. However the delay of the re-opening will accelerate electrification works on Tel Aviv - Ashkelon, Tel Aviv - Herzliya and Tel Aviv - Kfar Saba Nordau lines. For electrification between Tel Aviv University and Kfar Saba Nordau a new service was opened on 1 July from Kfar Saba Nordau to Herzliya.


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## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

I find it absurd that railways haven't been opened until now! This is probably singular in the entire Western world that the railway system was shut down completely.


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*SIEMENS DESIRO HC TESTS IN ISRAEL*







Can't take too long that the new trains will be in operational service. Many will be excited to use it.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Ashkelon-Ashdod section has been electrified and tested for the first time with TRAXX locomotive 3004 on 2 January 2021.


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## kokomo (Sep 29, 2009)

Those deouble deckers look similar to the ones used in Germany perhaps?


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## TER200 (Jan 27, 2019)

They are.


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## kokomo (Sep 29, 2009)

They truly looked way too familiar, thanks!


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

when will the old Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway (via Bet Shemesh) be reinstated?


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## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

kokomo said:


> Those deouble deckers look similar to the ones used in Germany perhaps?


Yep are the same model and same color, but the Israeli versions have technical specifications made for warmer climates and other security stuff


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

northeastern rail extension update









Karmiel - Kiryat Shmona railway route approved







en.globes.co.il


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## Ynhockey (Aug 7, 2006)

Woonsocket54 said:


> when will the old Jerusalem-Tel Aviv railway (via Bet Shemesh) be reinstated?


It's unclear, it's more of a political issue nowadays, as the line operates at a huge loss, and there is no space for more trains in Tel Aviv. At best, it will be a split line.


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

kokomo said:


> They truly looked way too familiar, thanks!


These are essentially the same trains which operate on the Rhine-Ruhr Express (RRX).


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

Current electrification status…

Completed:

Jerusalem - Airport - Tel Aviv - Herzliya
Airport - Lod (via Eastern Railway)
Ganot - Lod
Under construction:

Entire Sharon loop, including the Yarkon Railway
Tel Aviv HaHagana - Rishon LeZion - Yavne West - Ashdod - Ashkelon
Herzliya - Netanya
Lod - Rehovot
Anava - Modi'in


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## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

FortuneCookie said:


> Current electrification status…
> 
> Completed:
> 
> ...


after the redesign of the contract between SEMI and Israel Railways it looks that they will advance faster.


Israel Railways chairman departs in electrification dispute


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## Ynhockey (Aug 7, 2006)

An overview of the Lod trainyard, by Sergey Shvyrev:


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## Bart_LCY (Feb 10, 2006)

Test drive of Siemens Desiro HC DD EMU, by Sergey Shvyrev


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Construction progress new Eastern railroad parallel to Highway 6, July 2021


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

Siemens Desiro HC DD EMU for inter regio on completed electrified section Ashkelon-Ashdod in July 2021.
Whole line Tel Aviv-Ashkelon will be completed for electrification soon. Thanks to Sergey Shvyrev for great video!


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

Video of electrification works between HaHagana and Holon Junction below.

Israel Railways is planning to begin electrified service on the Sharon Loop and HaHagana-Ashkelon railways next month. While this is excellent news, not everyone is happy… Instead of straight-through service, passengers on the Be’er Sheva-Ashkelon line heading towards Tel Aviv will be forced to switch trains at Ashkelon. This has upset passengers coming from the northern Negev as it will mean a 10 minute wait in Ashkelon for them. Hopefully though the electrified service between Ashkelon and Tel Aviv will result in a shortening of the travel time on that section which will offset some of the 10 minute transfer time. This is reasonably-possible because the large number of stations on this section means that there should be a benefit from the greatly increased acceleration capabilities of the EMUs that will now operate on this line (as compared to the diesel locomotive drawn trains which currently operate on it).

Background: The Be’er Sheva-Ashkelon line was not included in the initial phase of the national electrification plan which is currently being carried out. A supplemental plan covering this line is in the approvals stage at this point. As such, completion of electrification on this line probably won’t happen until sometime in 2025 or possibly late 2024.


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

will the Sharon Loop trains terminate in Herzliya, or will this be a true loop with return service southbound?


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## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

Does the nightline between Naharyia and Ben Gurion Airport really not stop at the Mifrats Central Station? That would be a strange decision, considering it's an important hub.


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## Robi_damian (Jun 15, 2008)

rheintram said:


> Does the nightline between Naharyia and Ben Gurion Airport really not stop at the Mifrats Central Station? That would be a strange decision, considering it's an important hub.


IIRC when using it a few years back, it doesn't even stop at all TLV stations. I had to go to Arlozorov to take it at like 3 AM, as opposed to HaShalom. Also, Mifrats is in the middle of nowhere, and while connections count during the day, most connector services do not operate at night time.


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## chali1 (Jun 7, 2013)

How easy it is to ride a train in Israel for a YouTuber


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## Bikes (Mar 5, 2005)

They've been suggesting an Eilat link since 2012. Is there any realistic chance for this to get built?


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

Bikes said:


> They've been suggesting an Eilat link since 2012. Is there any realistic chance for this to get built?


Ideas for a rail link to Eilat have been raised since the 1950s.

There has indeed been more activity in the realm of planning in the past decade, but the chances of anything actually getting built are very low. There are also environmental groups that are opposed to the line.

Although talk of a railway to Eilat is a favorite hobby of Israeli politicians, actual political commitment to invest the vast sums needed for this project is yet to be found. Plus, the Ministry of Finance would rather invest the money in projects that they believe will provide a greater “return on investment”, such as a metro system for Tel Aviv/Gush Dan.


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

A quick update on electrification:

Electrification of the Sharon loop and HaHagana-Ashkelon has been completed but the begining of service is delayed due to a disagreement between Israel Railways and the railway workers‘ union with respect to how to compensate workers whose duties have been made obsolete by electrification.

Now that the Ashkelon-Tel Aviv and Sharon/Yarkon lines are finished, the bulk of the electrification works will move to other areas… Anava-Modi’in, Hertzliya-Netanya-Binyamina, and Lod-Rehovot.

That said, this is the time of the year when the Spanish electrification crews start heading back home to Spain for the Christmas holidays so there probably won’t be a lot of progress made between now and the beginning of 2022.


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## Bikes (Mar 5, 2005)

FortuneCookie said:


> Ideas for a rail link to Eilat have been raised since the 1950s.
> 
> There has indeed been more activity in the realm of planning in the past decade, but the chances of anything actually getting built are very low. There are also environmental groups that are opposed to the line.
> 
> Although talk of a railway to Eilat is a favorite hobby of Israeli politicians, actual political commitment to invest the vast sums needed for this project is yet to be found. Plus, the Ministry of Finance would rather invest the money in projects that they believe will provide a greater “return on investment”, such as a metro system for Tel Aviv/Gush Dan.


Tel Aviv metro system has definitely more sense, but it's still a pity that the Eilat rail connection is not a possibility. It would allow a completely car-free life for a lot of people, including tourists.


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## maginn (Mar 3, 2014)

Bikes said:


> Tel Aviv metro system has definitely more sense, but it's still a pity that the Eilat rail connection is not a possibility. It would allow a completely car-free life for a lot of people, including tourists.


People can fly to Eilat Ramon Airport from Tel Aviv or Haifa if the bus ride is too long for them.


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## rheintram (Mar 5, 2008)

Trains and Tel Aviv skyline:


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## Hebrewtext (Aug 18, 2004)

Lod station and depot
































































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## toquielkan (Jun 13, 2008)

The new Israel Railways trains, Siemens Desiro in the Jerusalem station


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*Electrification completed Ashkelon - Herzliya via Hasharon*







Electric trains operate on completed electrified line Ashkelon - Herzliya. See video with TRAXX AC3 E-Loc and 7 DD coaches. Thanks to Sergey Shvyrev.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Progress electrification 2022-2025










2022 - New line Modi'in-Jerusalem 
2022 - Some sections on Haifa-Herzliya, including Netanya-Herzliya and Hadera-Netanya 
2023 - Haifa-Tel Aviv in full electified operation
2023 till 2025 - Tel Aviv-Lod, Lod-Be'er Sheva 
2023 till 2025 - Lines North of Haifa

End of electrification work - only a few years


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## Woonsocket54 (May 7, 2005)

when the Modiin-Jerusalem line opens, will it only be electrified between Modiin and Jerusalem or also between Modiin and the airport?

also, since both Modiin and Jerusalem stations are underground, is all of the Modiin-Jerusalem line underground, or is some of it on the surface?


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## Ynhockey (Aug 7, 2006)

Woonsocket54 said:


> when the Modiin-Jerusalem line opens, will it only be electrified between Modiin and Jerusalem or also between Modiin and the airport?
> 
> also, since both Modiin and Jerusalem stations are underground, is all of the Modiin-Jerusalem line underground, or is some of it on the surface?


1. There are only about 800 m of track on Modi'in–Airport that aren't also on either Modi'in–Jerusalem or Tel Aviv–Jerusalem, so I assume it will be electrified from the start.
2. The new section is on an above-ground bridge, and generally most of the Modi'in branch is above-ground.


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## Ynhockey (Aug 7, 2006)

berlinwroclaw said:


> Progress electrification 2022-2025
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Tel Aviv – Lod is already electrified, I think you meant Lod–Ashdod, which fits that time frame.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Ynhockey said:


> Tel Aviv – Lod is already electrified, I think you meant Lod–Ashdod, which fits that time frame.


True. However this is a single track for storage of trains, not used for passengers. The main line Ganot-Lod is not electrified as can be seen on photos of the posts of *Hebrewtext.*


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

berlinwroclaw said:


> True. However this is a single track for storage of trains, not used for passengers. The main line Ganot-Lod is not electrified as can be seen on photos of the posts of *Hebrewtext.*


Ganot-Lod was electrified about a year ago. See here: אבן דרך נוספת: רכבת ישראל סיימה את חשמול המסילה בין לוד לתל אביב

The latest completion targets:

Anava-Modiin - April ‘22
Lod-Rehovot - July ‘22
Hertzliya-Netanya - July ‘22
Netanya-Binyamina - October ‘22
If they can meet these targets as planned then by November they can shift another line (Binyamina-Netanya-Tel Aviv-Lod-Rehovot) to electric service.


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

Jerusalem - Modiin opened on Thursday 31 March 2022. It is operated with electric trains.

New line from Modiin to Jerusalem


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

*Electrification completed Ben Gurion Airport - Lod & Ben Gurion Airport - Modiin*

See:







Thank you Sergey Shvyrev for another great video.


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## Isratech (Nov 19, 2015)

coolstuff said:


> *Electrification completed Ben Gurion Airport - Lod & Ben Gurion Airport - Modiin*
> 
> See:
> 
> ...


I see no video here...do you have the link please ?


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## coolstuff (Jul 22, 2016)

Isratech said:


> I see no video here...do you have the link please ?


Link trip Lod to Modiin


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## berlinwroclaw (Aug 31, 2005)

*Progress electrification*

Thanks to Sergey Shvyrev we are able to see with a good-old DD diesel train latest news about electrication North and South of Tel Aviv:

1. Rehovot - Lod: almost completed
2. Herzliya - Netanya: All poles installed and some lines
3. Netanya - Binyamina: Many poles installed and a few lines


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## FortuneCookie (Nov 6, 2004)

The Netanya-Rehovot line is converting to electric later this month. Trial runs have begun:






In the meantime, electrification work is continuing on the line between Binyamina and Netanya which should be completed by the end of the year. Electrification work will also start soon on Rehovot-Pleshet (Ashdod) as part of the double tracking project of this section, although a 3km sub-section near Yavne East will remain single-track as it is slated to be rebuilt, partially-underground, as part of an urban development plan in Yavne. Although IR will electrify this single track section too, it will be temporary as eventually all of the track infrastructure in that 3km section will be removed and completely rebuilt and electrified again (although this probably won’t take place until the second half of the decade which is why IR is electrifying it now nonetheless).

Once the Netanya-Binyamina and Rehovot-Ashdod sections will be electrified it will allow conversion of the Binyamina-Ashkelon suburban service to electric. At that point, the entire passenger rail network in central Israel will have been electrified. The only exceptions are the nowadays freight-only Eastern Railway between Rosh Haayin and Ben Gurion Airport (which is currently undergoing a massive upgrade, double-tracking and electrification project), the lightly-used Naan-Beit Shemesh line, and the short currently-non-thru section between Be’er Yaakov and Rishonim (which is being rebuilt as part of the the larger “Railway 431” project).


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## Ynhockey (Aug 7, 2006)

Dudy Cohen just posted a drone update for the Rishon LeZion – Modi'in link, also known as the 431 railway. In some areas this railway was planned in advance, but in others it was shoehorned in. The result is an insane number of long and tall bridges (in one place it creates a 4-layer interchange, visible at 01:34) for such a short railway.


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