Three new train stations open in Israel

At this stage, these stations will be connected to the Rosh HaAyin Tzafon station, through which there will be communication with other railway lines, and passengers from the new stations will have to get off at Rosh HaAyin and change trains. The Ministry of Transport says the average wait time for a transfer will be about seven minutes at most hours of the day.

The new line will only operate from Sunday to Thursday, from 6:00 am to 9:00 pm. The frequency of trains on this line in the first stage will be two trains per hour in each direction.

According to the Ministry of Transport, travel time from Hadera East to Tel Aviv will be about 60 minutes, including the transfer time in Rosh HaAyin. From Shomron Taibe station, the trip to Tel Aviv takes 46 minutes, and from Tira Kokhav Yair station – 39 minutes.

In the future, after the completion of engineering works and electrification, the line will be extended to Elad, Shoham and Lod stations, allowing continuous travel to the south without the need for transfers along the way.

The Ministry of Transport claims that the new line will allow traffic from north to south without passing through the bottleneck of Tel Aviv’s congested tracks. The ministry estimates that “the project is expected to increase the supply of travel on the national rail network by approximately 30%.”

Along with the launch of the line, operating hours on Fridays and Saturday evenings will be extended on many railway lines from the north to the south of the country. The move ends a period of reduced operating hours and partial closures required to carry out complex infrastructure work on the Eastern Line.

Friday service will be extended until approximately 16:00, and on Saturday evening trains will operate until 1:00 am. The extension of operating hours will affect dozens of stations, including Nahariya, Karmiel, Netanya, Beit Shemesh and Beersheba, some of which suffered disruptions or reduced operating hours due to the work.