Ashkelon–Beersheba railway
and stations.
The Ashkelon–Beersheba railway is a railway line linking Ashkelon and Beersheba currently under construction by Israel Railways.[1] It will span approximately 60 km of double track in the northern Negev region of southern Israel and provide rail service to the cities of Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim. As of February 2015, the line links Sderot and Netivot to Ashkelon and Tel Aviv.
Route and construction timeline
 Route Map (in Hebrew) published by the Israeli Ministry of Transportation. |
The railway is composed of three sections:
- Reconstruction and double-tracking of part of the historic Ashkelon–Gaza coastal railway between Ashkelon and Yad Mordechai, part of which has been dismantled since the early 1970s.
- A brand new railway between Yad Mordechai and Goral junction on the Railway to Beersheba. This section contains the new Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim stations.
- An existing railway section on the Railway to Beersheba between Goral and Beersheba. The connection between the new railway heading from Ofakim to the Railway to Beersheba is achieved using a flying junction at Goral.
The work includes three road bridges, 18 rail bridges, four grade separations and 11 bridge or tunnel passages for farming equipment.
Construction status
Construction of the section of railway between Ashkelon and Netivot is complete. The rest of the railway to Goral is expected to be completed in 2015. Most of the work between Goral and Beersheba was carried out as part of the upgrade and double tracking of the Railway to Beersheba that was completed in 2012. This last section is intended to be triple-tracked in a future follow-up project, with some bridges along the route already having been widened to accommodate three tracks. Ofakim train station is due to inaugurate at the end of 2015 as the final station in the Beersheba-Ashkelon line.
Future services
When completed, the railway is expected to serve a new intercity line between Beersheba and Tel Aviv through the communities of the northern Negev, as well as stopping in existing railway stations in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Yavne, and Rishon LeZion.
The railway is also expected to serve freight trains, supplementing the current freight service via the railway to Beersheba and the Heletz railway.
References
- ↑ "Ashkelon-Beersheba Railway". Israel Railways website (in Hebrew). Israel Railways. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
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