A Quarterly Journal on the Railways of Israel and the Middle East Edited and published by Rabbi Dr Walter Rothschild HaRakevet Passauer Strasse 4, D-10789 Berlin, Germany ����� E.mail:[email protected] Series 31 #4 Issue 119 December 2017 ISSN - 0964-8763 Possibly soon to become an historic image, if rumours of closure of this line and replacement by a conveyor belt become true! Aqaba Hejaz Railway. ARC GE C24 MMI 2400 hp CO-CO (remanufactured 2007) no. 704 & GE U20C 2,150 hp CO-CO (1980) no. 301 coupled together and an empty phosphate train waiting to enter the El Shidiye phosphate mine branch. (Photo Harel Even). 119:01a : A railway station and transport interchange is to be built at Shefayim north of Herzliyya. Computer image courtesy of the architects Farkhi-Zafrir. Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh 21:45 I popped into Beit Shemesh station on my way home from work today. Neither Yossi nor Moshe was there, but the woman in the ticket office – who knows me EDITORIAL well! – told me it started unofficially today, officially tomorrow (whatever that is supposed to mean....) Another busy quarter lies behind us and with this issue we close 2017. In Israel there have been It’s bizarre to do this midweek, and presumably when the new timetables including Karmiel (starting many developments in connection with the modernisation, expansion and electrification projects – see next Wednesday) have already been printed. below. In our rubric on 'Other Middle East Railways' we include this time historic notes on Lebanon, Yemen and even 'Palestine', countries where there are currently no functioning railways – whereas in other places I thought the trains from Herzliyya to Beit there are surprising revivals (Syria) or steady expansion (Iran). One major item of news from our own Shemesh would be double-deckers, but so far they perspective is that Jeremy has completed placing all back numbers onto the online archive – a massive are not – at least according to the eyewitness reports piece of work! It needs repeating that the pace of change is such that anyone who has not visited Israel that I’ve received.'' for, say, ten years will simply not recognise the railways as they are now, and the same will apply in another decade too, so it is important that we simply note 'for the record' what is happening and when. Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem 07:59 and hourly to Enjoy! The Editor. 14:59 Subscription renewals are due 1st January. Forms will be included NEWS FROM THE LINE. where necessary. Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem 22:59 Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh 21:45 Just as we went to press, on 12th. September, Sybil wrote: ''Quite by chance, when looking at the IR website, I saw this notice. Trains from Herzliyya terminate at Beit Shemesh, and passengers for Jerusalem From a press release of 12.09.2017 by Israel need to change trains. Some of the changes involve an inordinately long wait, but there are more trains Railways Ltd.: to Jerusalem. It apparently started today because the timetable for today is the new split one. ''The railways are proceeding with implementation Trains between Beit Shemesh and Tel Aviv (in both directions) continue as normal, no change to the of the vision for 2022, and are about to publish the timetable. new timetable for the autumn of 2017, in which Sunday-Thursday: 516 trains will operate daily compared with current Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem at 06:16, 07:16, 08:16, 09:16, 10:58, 11:58, 12:58, 14:41, 15:41, 468 trains daily; an increase of 10%. 16:41, 17:41, 18:41, 19:41, 20:29, 20:41, 21:41. The new timetable is to be introduced at the eve Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh at 06:06, 07:06, 08:06, 09:06, 10:47, 11:47, 12:47, 14:30, 15:30, of the Jewish New Year – 20.09.2017 - except for 16:30, 17:30, 18:30, 19:30, 20:31, 21:31. the changes on the old line to Jerusalem which start Fridays: Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem 07:59 and hourly to 14:59 today and are to be reported further on. It includes Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh 07:46 and hourly to 14:46 for the first time the Galilee line between Carmiel, Saturdays: Ahihud, Haifa, Tel-Aviv and Beer-Sheva. Beit Shemesh to Jerusalem 22:59 The new timetable includes also additional trains as well as additional halts on many lines, like Hadera .... West and the new station of Haifa Hamifratz Central (the station being built over Lev Hamifratz as an interchange between trains on the Valley Line and the Carmiel - Haifa and Nahariya – Haifa lines which run below, to be opened at the beginning of 2018. The railways will care for maximal co-ordination regarding connectivity at changing trains; there will be also improvement of services between trains and buses on the Beer-Sheva North/University-Dimona line. An additional passenger railway station to be opened at the end of 2017 is Kiryat-Malakhi-Yoav, on the line to Beer-Sheva north of Kiryat-Gat and south of Mazkeret Batya (under construction); the former name was Kfar-Menahem, but the Kiryat- Malakhi municipality insisted on calling it after this town, even though it is 14 km away from the station. HaRakevet 119 page 2 Regarding the line to Carmiel, the following data The Ashkelon - Beer-Sheva line (the Negev line) ''Regular passenger trains began running to the is revealed: enjoys additional trains, one of which will leave Galilean city of Karmi'el on September 20, with the *Between Carmiel and Haifa Hof HaCarmel there Ashkelon at 06:07 and will call at Sderot, Netivot start of revenue operation on ISR’s 23 km ’Akko – will be 36 trains/day. and Ofakim; these additional trains are at the Karmi’el branch. The double-track branch diverges *Between Carmiel and Beer-Sheva Central (through request of the area's population, many of whom from the Haifa – Nahariyya line between ’Akko and Haifa and Tel-Aviv) - 15 trains/day; 7 trains in the are medical teams working at Beer-Sheva Soroka Kiryat Motzkin. morning; 8 at the afternoon. medical centre. Built by Israel Roads Ltd at a cost of US$785 M, *First train will depart Carmiel at 05:30 and arrive In the new timetable the connection between the line had been officially inaugurated by Prime Haifa Hof HaCarmel 06:24. Beer-Sheva North/University and Tel-Aviv, as well Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Transport Minister *First train will depart Haifa Hof HaCarmel at 05:57 as between Beer-Sheva North/University and the Israel Katz and ISR General Manager Shahar Ayalon and arrive Carmiel 06:54. Negev line, has been improved in favour of on September 5. *Latest train will depart Carmiel at 22:30 and arrive passengers to/from Dimona. Described by IRL General Manager Nissim Peretz Haifa Hof HaCarmel 23:24. There are additional late evening trains on the as a complex engineering project, the branch *Latest train will depart Haifa Hof HaCarmel at Hod HaSharon-Sokolov - Beer-Sheva line, as well required the boring of a 4·7 km twin-bore tunnel 22:57 and arrive Carmiel 23:54. as on the Negev line; these will call at all under Mount Gilon. This is designed to intermediate stations on the Negev line. accommodate 25kV 50Hz overhead wires in future as part of the national electrification programme. Additional morning/afternoon/evening trains There is one intermediate station at Ahihud, which from Kiryat-Motzkin and Haifa Lev-HaMifratz to In order to improve the service between has parking for 230 cars; a further 700 spaces are Tel-Aviv and Beer-Sheva and in the opposite Herzliyya and Jerusalem Malkha and regarding provided at Karmi’el. direction; the public will enjoy these improvements passenger demand, the long-awaited change of ISR’s initial timetable provides 26 trains in each thanks to the opening of the line to Carmiel. splitting the service at Beit-Shemesh has been direction per day on the branch, running from 05.30 When the Haifa Hamifratz Central station opens introduced from 13.09.2017 (unlike other to 00.00. Of these, 18 trains each way run to or at the beginning of 2018, all the trains running changes to be introduced on 20.09.2017). from Haifa Hof-haCarmel offering a journey time of between Atlit, Haifa and the Valley Line will call The reason is simple: between Sunday and 34 min for the 46 km between Karmi’el and Haifa there. Thursday the main demand is between Beit- Central at an average speed of 81 km/h. Additional Due to demand an additional fast train will be Shemesh and Tel-Aviv/Herzliyya, currently trains operate at peak times to give 2 trains/h on introduced between Hadera West and Beer-Sheva in operated by Bombardier IC3 Flexiliners dmu's which the branch. These run through to or from Tel Aviv each direction; it will leave Hadera West at 09:09; have insufficient capacity; in the morning rush in the evening the fast train will leave Tel-Aviv hours, passengers from Jerusalem will Savidor/Central at 19:53; the result: instead of a change at Beit-Shemesh and continue single train between Hadera West and Tel-Aviv to Tel-Aviv/Herzliyya on a Bombardier Savidor/Central between 19:30 and 20:30 there double-deck push/pull train with much will be two trains, one of them fast. higher capacity. In addition to the regular trains on the Nahariya In the afternoon rush hours, - Modi'in Central and Nahariya – Beer-Sheva routes, passengers to Jerusalem will change at local trains will operate at rush hours between Akko Beit-Shemesh within minutes to board (Acre) and Haifa Hof HaCarmel in both directions; an IC3 Flexiliner dmu.