Ottoman Empire

Rail infrastructure in what is now Israel was first envisioned and realized during the Ottoman period. in 1839, Sir Moses Montefiore was an early proponent of trains in the land of Israel.^[4] However, the first railroad in Palestine was the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, initiated by the Jewish entrepreneur Joseph Navon and built by the French at meter gauge.^[5] It opened on September 26, 1892^[5] with a time travel of 3 hours and 30 minutes.^[4]

The second line in what is now Israel was the Jezreel Valley railway from Haifa to Beit She’an, which had been built in 1904^[4] as part of the Haifa-Daraa branch, a 1905-built feeder line of the Hejaz Railway which ran from Medina to Damascus.^[5] During the Ottoman era, the network grew: Nablus, Kalkiliya, and Beersheba all gained train stations.^[5] The First World War brought yet another rail line: the Ottomans, with German assistance, laid tracks from Beersheba to Kadesh Barnea on the Sinai Peninsula.^[5] (This line ran through trains from Afula through Tulkarm.^[4]) This resulted in the construction of the eastern and southern railways.

Mideastern regional rail travel: the British Mandate

The British invaded the Levant, dismantled the Kadesh Barnea line, and built a new line from Beersheba to Gaza, allowing a connection with their own line from Egypt,^[5] running through Lod to Haifa.^[4] In 1920 a new company, called Palestine Railways was established, which took over the responsibility of running the country's rail network. During the British Mandate, rail travel increased considerably, with a line being built between Petach Tikva and Rosh HaAyin, and Lydda (which was near the main airport in the area) becoming a major hub during WWII.^[5] Also during the war, in 1942, the British opened a route running from Haifa to Beirut and Tripoli.^[4] Shortly after the war expired, the Rosh HaNikra tunnel was dug, allowing train travel from Lebanon and points north (and west) to Palestine and Egypt.^[5]

Starting in 1917–18, the British converted the Ottoman 1050 mm gauge southern, eastern and Jerusalem railways to standard gauge, though not the Jezreel Valley railway and some of its branches which remained narrow gauge and thus incompatible with the rest of the railways in Palestine. The British also extended some of the existing railways and connected them with adjacent countries and built 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge lines in Jaffa and Jerusalem. After the First World War ended, the British nationalized all railways in the Palestine mandate and created the Palestine Railways company to manage operations.

Israel

When Israel gained independence in 1948, the state created Israel Railways as a successor to the British company. During the 1947–1949 Palestine war, much damage was done to the railways in the country, especially the Jezreel Valley railway, which was not rebuilt due to financial constraints and its incompatibility with the rest of the rail network.

In the first years of Israeli independence, rail passenger traffic grew rapidly, reaching about 4.5 million passengers per annum during the early to mid-1960s, at which point traffic began to slacken due to improvements in the road infrastructure, increases in the automobile ownership rate, lack of investment in the rail network, and a continued favoring of public transportation using buses over trains. This trend reached a low point of about 2.5 million passengers in 1990, which on a per-capita basis represented about a 75% decrease from the heyday of the 1960s. Then in the 1990s, a wave of railway infrastructure development began, leading to a resurgence of the railways' importance within the country's transportation system.

Heavy rail

Map of Israel Railways lines and stations

Approved long-term plans for passenger railways in Israel. Black signifies existing lines, red—lines under construction, and purple—planned lines.

As of 2010, the rail network in Israel spans approximately 1,000 km (620 mi), with around 250 km (160 mi) additional expected to be under construction in the early 2010s decade. The majority of the network has been double tracked, the result of extensive works which have been ongoing since around 1990 to increase capacity throughout the network.

The rail network includes the coastal railway line spanning from Nahariya in the north to Tel Aviv in the south, through Acre, Haifa (with a spur to eastern Haifa), Netanya and other cities. A small commuter line goes from Kfar Saba in the north to Tel Aviv, and connects to a freight-only line from Rosh HaAyin to Lod, part of the partially defunct Eastern railway. Plans exist to rebuild the eastern railway from Hadera to Rosh HaAyin, with a spur to Afula.

Six lines go south from Tel Aviv, including two lines to Rishon LeZion, one of which continues to Yavne with a section from Yavne to Ashdod currently under construction; a line to Ashkelon through Lod and Rehovot with a spur to the Port of Ashdod; a line to Modi'in through Ben Gurion International Airport; a line to Jerusalem, which is part of the historical Jaffa–Jerusalem railway; and the railway to Beersheba, with branches to Ramat Hovav and the Israel Chemicals factories through Dimona. The railway to Beersheba is also connected to the line to Ashkelon through the Heletz railway.

In the early 2000s, the Israeli government embarked on a major project to upgrade the existing rail network and build a number of entirely new lines. This includes rebuilding the railways to Kfar Saba and Beersheba, while converting them to double-track and constructing dozens of grade separations between road and rail. Then in the 2010s decade, rebuilding the Jezreel Valley railway and creating new lines: the Railway to Karmiel, the High-speed railway to Jerusalem, a line from Ashkelon to Beersheba through Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim, and a railway as part of the Route 531 project. Some of these projects were initiated in the 2000s but were eventually frozen, with work on some resuming in 2009–2010, when they were included in a major government plan to connect almost all cities in Israel to the rail network.

Metro/Light rail

A Jerusalem Light Rail tram on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem

The first light rail line in Israel is the Jerusalem Light Rail, which opened in 2011. The line is 13.8 km (8.6 mi) long and goes from Mount Herzl in the west to Pisgat Ze'ev in the east. An extension of the western side to Hadassah Ein Kerem and the eastern side to Neve Ya'akov is under construction and was opened in 2023. The Green Line is under construction (planned to open in 2025).

A major LRT network is under construction in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, with three lines of the Tel Aviv Light Rail for a total of 90 km (56 mi) and 139 stations. The Red Line (opened in 2023) connects Petah Tikva in the northeast to Bat Yam in the southwest, with a main 12 km (7.5 mi) underground section (covering Bnei Brak, Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv). The Green Line will connect Holon in the south with an extension to Rishon LeZion, and the western part of Herzelia to the north with an extension to the northern parts of Tel Aviv, including the Tel Aviv University. The Purple Line will start at Tel Aviv Savidor Central railway station, passing through the city and continuing east to Yehud with an extension to Kiryat Ono and Bar Ilan University. Both the Green Line and the Purple Line are under construction and the estimated opening year is 2027/2028.

The Tel Aviv Metro, an extensive 3-line subway system, is planned for Tel Aviv and surrounding cities in the Gush Dan area. It will consist of 3 lines with a total length of 150 km (93 mi) and 109 stations. Currently construction is scheduled to start in 2025 and operation of the first sections is scheduled for 2032.

Tenders have been issued for the Haifa–Nazareth railway, a tram-train line linking Haifa and Nazareth.^[9][10]

The Beersheba Light Rail, which will serve the city of Beersheba and outlying towns, was approved in August 2023. It is expected to be completed in 2033.^[11]

An underground funicular rail line, called Carmelit, was opened in Haifa in 1959. It is 1.8 km (1.1 mi) long and has 6 stations.

Statistics

Passenger stations

Railway links with adjacent countries

• Lebanon – defunct
• Syria – defunct (narrow gauge)
• Jordan – proposed
• Egypt – defunct

Proposed rail lines to the PA

Talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority in 2004 have raised the possibility of reviving the old line from the Gaza Strip to Tulkarem and/or building a new line from Gaza to Tarkumia (near Hebron) with the aim of securely transporting people and goods between Gaza and the West Bank through Israeli territory as well as for transporting cargo to and from the Israeli port of Ashdod destined to the Palestinian Authority.^[20] Another proposed line would involve the revival of the old Hejaz railway branch from Afula to Jenin.