page_title: Jaffa–Jerusalem railway
section_title: Re-opening (2003–2005)
hierarchical_section_title: Jaffa–Jerusalem railway / History / Re-opening (2003–2005)
caption_attribution_description: Map showing the plans for a Tel-Aviv--Jerusalem railway connection. Each alternative (S, G, A, A1, B, B1, B2, M, M1) is represented by a different color. Bold text and ciricles is for stations, while regular dark grey text is for city (12pt)/town (10pt)/village (8pt) names. Done with the help of a slew of other maps, not all of which had the same aspect ratio, etc. Therefore, try as I might, the map did not come out exactly to scale (probably) and has a few minor errors. The grey areas (built-up urban) are only shown for relevant localities, and are strictly demonstrative - they are generally not exact at all. Dotted lines denote tunnels. Bridges were not added, as I don't have the actual plans for these lines and the maps I have do not show bridges.
context_page_description: The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway is a railway that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem by the French company Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et Prolongements and inaugurated in 1892. The project was headed by Joseph Navon, an Ottoman Jewish entrepreneur from Jerusalem, after previous attempts by the British-Jewish philanthropist Sir Moses Montefiore failed. While the first rail track in the Middle East was laid elsewhere, the line is considered to be the first Middle Eastern railway.
  The railway was originally built in 1,000 mm metre gauge, later rebuilt to 1,050 mm and then to 1,435 mm standard gauge. The line was operated by the French, the Ottomans and after World War I, the British. After its closure in 1948, it was re-opened by Israel Railways in 1949 as the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem railway, although since 2019 this designation is instead used to refer to the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway – an electrified railway line constructed during the 21st century that employs extensive bridging and tunneling along a faster, more direct route between the two cities.
context_section_description: Uzani petitioned the Minister of Infrastructure, Ariel Sharon to allocate funds for a major repair/reconstruction of the line, but instead the Tel Aviv – Beersheba line was upgraded, with a spur to a new central railway station near the city's central bus station.
  Meanwhile, several alternatives were analyzed for the restoration of a railway connection between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem:
  Plans S and S1 – repair of the old route with S maintaining the same serpentine route in the mountains between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, with S1 including a few small tunnels and curve straightening in the mountain portion.
  Plans G and G1 – a massive repair of the old route, straightening all the curves by digging numerous long tunnels along the route.
  Plans B, B1, B2, M and M1 – construction of a new line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem via Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut and along the path of Route 443.
  Plans A and A1 – construction of a new line roughly paralleling Highway 1, with a branch to Modi'in (see also: High-speed railway to Jerusalem).
  Plans to build a line alongside Route 443 were shelved due to its route through the West Bank. The Municipality of Jerusalem supported Plan G1, while Israel Railways supported Plan S as a quick deployment plan, followed by A1. In June 2001, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh and Sharon choose to proceed with Israel Railways' proposal.
  On September 13, 2003, the Tel Aviv – Beit Shemesh section and Beit Shemesh Railway Station were re-opened. In April 2005, the second section was initiated with the opening of the Malha station, while the remainder of the route to the more centrally-located Khan station was effectively abandoned at the request of the Jerusalem municipality. Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu were present in the opening ceremony.
  The renovated line encountered many problems, particularly in the Beit Shemesh–Jerusalem section, and was not considered economically viable. It also cost NIS 540 million to build, instead of the planned NIS 330 mln. The winding nature of the mountainous, 19th-century era route between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, while scenic, restricts trains' speed and type, and Malha station's location within Jerusalem is not considered ideal, being situated in the town's southern outskirts. In late 2006, a decision was passed down to split the service on the line into two—Tel Aviv – Beit Shemesh, and Beit Shemesh – Jerusalem (taking effect on December 30). This improved conditions and timetable reliability in the first section, which a variety of train types could now traverse, but significantly increased the time between Jerusalem and destinations other than Beit Shemesh, and the line was re-united in the following seasonal schedule. The rebuilding process itself was also criticized, because a number of historic structures were destroyed, including the original Beit Shemesh and Bittir stations, and a stone bridge.
  Work has continued to improve the line between Na'an and Beit Shemesh by straightening curves and replacing level crossings with bridges. In February 2009 a crossing between the railway and Highway 3, near moshav Yesodot and the former Nahal Sorek station was replaced with a long railway bridge and a sharp curve immediately following the intersection was straightened. This project may cut down travel time to Beit Shemesh by up to 10 minutes. Another level crossing several kilometers north near Hulda was also replaced by a rail bridge. A separate project to straighten and double-track the line between Lod and Na'an was completed in 2012 as part of the upgrade and reconstruction of the Lod–Beersheba line. The Tel Aviv–Lod section was completely double-tracked by the 1990s and now constitutes part of the main line of Israel Railways. Besides trains to Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem, this section also serves the lines to Ashkelon, Ben Gurion Airport, and Beersheba.
  The original termini in Jaffa and Jerusalem have been renovated as entertainment centers. The Jaffa station was renovated to such use in 2008, and the Jerusalem one in 2013. Both stations are disconnected from the rai
caption: Map of proposed route alternatives between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. Plan S uses the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway route, although was only implemented as far as Malha station which became the eastern terminus of the line. Plan A1 was eventually implemented as the "high-speed" Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway.
exif: {}