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Sept. 21, 2007
All aboard the train
Railways are becoming preferred means of travel.
SIMON GRIVER ISRAEL PRESS SERVICE
The opening of a new railway line between Tel-Aviv and Modi'in
at the start of September marked another stage in the transportation
revolution that Israel has undergone in recent years.
In 2002, Israel Railways carried just 17.5 million passengers, while,
during 2007, that number will have almost doubled, to more than
34 million. The number of passengers is expected to double again
over the next five years, with a new fast link to Jerusalem and
additional lines to the western Negev, Galilee and southern Tel-Aviv
suburbs. Five new stations have opened in 2007, bringing the number
of stations on the network to 47, with 20 new stations to be opened
over the next five years.
According to Yael Arnon, assistant to the CEO of Israel Railways,
as one of the most densely populated countries in the world and
with ever-lengthening traffic jams, Israel's only transportation
alternative is the train. "Israel's railways are faster, more
convenient and safer than the roads," she said, "and train
travel also reduces pollution."
In addition to Israel Railways' ambitious $6.3 billion development
program (between 2003 and 2011), Jerusalem and Tel-Aviv are both
building light railway systems. While the government, which owns
Israel Railways, is footing the bill for the massive development
of train travel from the public purse, the two metropolitan light
railways (much of Tel-Aviv's will be underground) will be operated
on a Build Operate Transfer (BOT) basis by private consortiums.
For frequent visitors to Israel or first-time tourists, Israel Railways
offers an ideal way of travelling around the country, with almost
all the major cities from Nahariya, Akko and Haifa in the north
to Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem and Be'ersheva in the south already on line.
A link between Ben-Gurion International Airport and Tel-Aviv was
opened in 2004.
The speed and comfort of Israel's trademark double-decker railways,
complete with carriages with wi-fi Internet reception, is a far
cry from the first railway line in the land of Israel, built by
the Turks in 1892. That Jaffa-Jerusalem line is still operative
and, although rarely used by Israelis, because it takes more than
90 minutes winding through the hills, it is a delightful way for
tourists to travel to the Holy City. Regrettably, the old Ottoman
station in the city centre has closed down, with the train stopping
short, at the Malha shopping mall.
In 1914, a more ambitious project was completed with German help:
the Hejaz railway, which linked Damascus with Medina in Saudi Arabia,
with branch lines running from Haifa and Akko through the Jezreel
Valley to Be'ersheva in the south. After 1917, the British mandatory
authorities further developed the railways. A coastal line was built
linking Tel-Aviv-Jaffa with Haifa, extending north to Beirut and
south to the Suez Canal.
However, while the railways served the British establishment, the
growing Jewish population in new towns and villages was left outside
the network. To address this problem, the Egged bus co-operative
was founded in 1933. For the next 15 years, the buses were viewed
as the "Jewish" form of transport, while the railways
belonged to the British. This was one of the major factors that
inhibited the development of the railways after independence in
1948. The sole exception was the opening of the Carmelit in the
1950s, a "subway" climbing Haifa's Mount Carmel, which
was, in fact, little more than an underground cable car.
By the late 1950s, the tendency worldwide was to close down railways
in favor of the automobile and improved highways. While Israel had
few railways to close down, the global trend consolidated the bus
as the national form of public transport. Even the escalating price
of fuel in the 1970s and the growing awareness of the environmental
advantages of railway transportation did not erode the primacy of
the bus in Israel.
But the arrival of more than a million new immigrants from the former
Soviet Union in the 1990s and increasing affluence pushed Israel's
highways, even after the construction of many new roads, towards
gridlock. The new Modi'in line brings commuters into the heart of
Tel-Aviv within 20 minutes during the rush hour, whereas the car
journey can take more than an hour (not including parking).
Another advantage of the train is the safety factor. More than 500
people are killed on Israel's roads every year. While admittedly,
there have been two major rail crashes in recent years, killing
12 people, Arnon pointed out that the accidents were the result
of vehicles negligently crossing the lines. Nevertheless, Israel
Railways is investing more than $150 million a year in improving
safety through the installation of electronic warning systems and,
in particular, by building bridges and tunnels where railway lines
cross roads. A bridge, for example, has almost been completed at
the Kfar Yehoshua level crossing near Netanya, where five passengers
were killed in 2006.
Israel Railways is also a major cargo carrier, transporting more
than eight metric tons during 2006, including large amounts of phosphates
and potash mined in the Negev to the country's ports. With the increasing
price of gasoline and road transportation, Israel Railways also
hopes to increase its freight business in the coming years.
Clearly, as the country becomes more densely populated in the coming
decade, more and more Israelis will be letting the train take the
strain.
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