[RoadUser]

Hi all,

Since I could find no thread on Israeli trains, I decided it was time to add one.

Israel's railway system were sadly neglected for several decades, and degenerated into a very poor state.

Some time in the 1990s the government realised that the road system could not handle the rapidly rising levels of traffic, and decided to begin serious investment in the railways. Since then, the system has been undergoing a rapid process of modernisation and expansion, so that today, at least to a number of major destinations, it is a seriously viable method of transport.

There are 4 types of train in use, all diesel, and all of which appear in the pics below. Of the four types, the most common are the Bombardier double deckers, followed by the Danish IC3s. The others are less common, despite the impression the photos in this posting may give.

Electrification of part of the the system is planned for the next few years.

I commute every day from Modiin to Herzliya by rail - just under an hour's ride including changing trains at Tel Aviv, so the pics reflect this.

Ridership has been growing astronomically, as shown in the following chart, from the Israel Railways website:

The following are pictures that I have taken recently. They were all taken with my cellphone camera, so please excuse the sometimes less-than-perfect quality.

First of all, a map of the system. Two new stations do not appear on the map; Petah Tikva Kiryat Arye and Lod Ganei Aviv:

Since I live in Modiin, the first pictures are from the recently opened Modiin Central (Modiin Merkaz) station. It is the only station in the country that is entirely underground:


Escalator to the surface:

Exit into ticket hall:

Platform 4:

Modiin Outskirts (Paatey Modiin) station taken through the window of a train:

My train pulls into Tel Aviv Central station.

A double-deck train pulls into platform 2 of Tel Aviv Central station:

Northbound single deck push-pull train pulls into platform 1 of Tel Aviv Central:

A double-deck train at Herzliya station:

Inside a double-deck train:

A Danish IC3 train at Herzliya:

Tel Aviv Hashalom station:

Tel Aviv University station:

Moving the locomotive to the other end of a very old train at Modiin Central. There aren't all that many of these old crocks left. They still have slam-doors and can only be pulled by the locomotive.:

Mind the Gap:

 

[urbanfan89]

Hopefully in the near future there will be international trains as well.

 

[Menthu]

Nice pics.
I wonder what's up with the south. Those lines go from the libanese borders to the north down to Be'er Sheva. I know that south of that there is the Negev-desert, but what about the dead sea for example? Isn't there a line going to that direction?

PS: What about the ICE?

 

[priamos]

Hopefully in the near future there will be international trains as well.

Yes, exactly!!! Countries that do not possess the basic decency of having cross-border railway (and other infrastructure) liaisons with their neighbours do not - in my humble opinion - deserve to be represented on this board.

Shame on such nasty guys!!! ;-)

 

[RoadUser]

Nice pics.
I wonder what's up with the south. Those lines go from the libanese borders to the north down to Be'er Sheva. I know that south of that there is the Negev-desert, but what about the dead sea for example? Isn't there a line going to that direction?

PS: What about the ICE?

Actually the southernmost passenger station in the country is in Dimona. There is a plan (I'm not sure whether they've actually started to build it yet) to build a line from Ashkelon to Be'er Sheva via Ofakim, Netivot and Sderot.

As for the Dead Sea, there are freight lines going there, I think, as well as to other places further South than Dimona, but I doubt that a passenger line could ever be financially justified.

There is talk of a passenger line to Eilat, but I doubt it will ever be built, because it would cost a fortune to build it, and it would have a hard time competing with the buses and air services that already go there.

As for international services, the political situation would have to improve considerably before anything of the kind could be practical.

In the mean time, the only places that rail lines could conceivably be built to are Cairo and Amman. The former would have the same problem as the proposed line to Eilat, only more so. The latter would be impossible, because, as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) there are no passenger rail services in Jordan.

 

[RoadUser]

This is the Israel Railways map of the system in 2011, showing all of the development plans currently underway or planned. Whether they will all actually be in operation by 2011 remains, of course, to be seen:

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

In the mean time, the only places that rail lines could conceivably be built to are Cairo and Amman. The former would have the same problem as the proposed line to Eilat, only more so. The latter would be impossible, because, as far as I know (correct me if I'm wrong) there are no passenger rail services in Jordan.

According to Wikipedia, there are services between Amman and Damascus on the Hejaz railway. However, the Hejaz railway is narrow gauge and so cannot be connected to the Israeli network.

Wikipedia also says that Israel is planning to rebuild part of the Jezreel Valley railway, a defunct branch of the Hejaz railway, as standard gauge, with a potential extension into Jordan. Comparing the Wikipedia map of the Jezreel Valley line to the Year 2011 map, I see that it's the red line from Haifa to Bet She'an.

 

[RoadUser]

Hi all,

In addition to the above trains, Israel Railways has ordered trains of a new type made by Siemens. They are currently several months late, leading to reports of a possible lawsuit.

They are apparently currently being tested in Austria, and the following pictures appeared on an Austrian forum. To me they look very much like a single deck version of the red double deckers, even though they are from a different manufacturer.

 

[Koen Acacia]

:cheers: to Israel.
Funny that those trains are all diesels, I had expected electrical lines much sooner there, with problems like oil dependency and so.

 

[Menthu]

@RoadUser:

Sry, I can't see the pics. If I type the URL in manually it says: "You do not have permission to access the requested file on this server."

Can you upload them on imageshack.us or something please?

 

[RoadUser]

@RoadUser:

Sry, I can't see the pics. If I type the URL in manually it says: "You do not have permission to access the requested file on this server."

Can you upload them on imageshack.us or something please?

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):

 

[Menthu]

^^
Yeah thanks, now we can see them. These were the pics I meant (I should have clarified that before :X )

PS: Cool, this train even has the same paintjob as the German regional-trains.

 

[RoadUser]

^^
Yeah thanks, now we can see them. These were the pics I meant (I should have clarified that before :X )

PS: Cool, this train even has the same paintjob as the German regional-trains.

Yes, it's practically identical. That red paint fades quite badly in our climate BTW. Since none of the other trains seem to have that problem I can only assume that whoever painted them (presumably Bombardier) didn't check that the paint that they were using was OK in hot weather.

I suppose you don't have that problem in Germany . . .

 

[ZOHAR]

great thread

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

I noticed that the hauled coaches have their doors at each end, as on long distance trains, but with wide doorways so that passengers can get on and off quickly, like those on suburban trains. I suppose that this is a compromise layout because the same trains cater to both commuter and long distance passengers.

 

[Menthu]

Yes, it's practically identical. That red paint fades quite badly in our climate BTW. Since none of the other trains seem to have that problem I can only assume that whoever painted them (presumably Bombardier) didn't check that the paint that they were using was OK in hot weather.

I suppose you don't have that problem in Germany . . .

No, we really don't have that problem. Too bad they didn't consider this problem... or maybe they did but just used a cheap paintwork. That would be even worse.
However, I found out that next to Germany and Israel also Luxemburg, UK and Spain use the color "Verkehrsrot" (traffic red), even though not in the very same design as ours. Maybe the paint on spanish trains fade too.

Now that I think about it. I always thought that the paintjob on old red cars looked way worse than others too.

 

[rheintram]

search the forums and you will find all what was posted here and more:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=473337

 

[Momo1435]

Another picture of the new Siemens coaches, this time in Switzerland.

http://www.schweizer-bahnen.ch/web_389_1/categories.php?cat_id=190

 

[RoadUser]

Thanks,

Here's yet another picture that turned up on an Israeli forum (credit is on the picture):

 

[brisbanite]

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