page_title: Carmelit
section_title: Shutdowns
hierarchical_section_title: Carmelit / History / Shutdowns
caption_attribution_description: The Carmelit in Haifa, Israel. הכרמלית בחיפה, ישראל
context_page_description: The Carmelit is an underground funicular railway in Haifa, Israel. Construction started in 1956 and ended in 1959. It is currently the only underground transit system in Israel. The Carmelit has closed down for repair on three occasions.
context_section_description: The Carmelit was shut down for intensive renovation on December 19, 1986, after 27 consecutive years. The old rolling stock was taken to a scrapyard near Kfar Masaryk in 1991, after being offered to the Israel Railway Museum which refused it due to high transport costs. After several delays and failed attempts, renovation work started on October 29, 1990. The Carmelit finally reopened to the public in early September 1992.
  In March 2015, the Carmelit was closed again due to a faulty cable, and subsequently reopened in July 2015. At the same time new ticket machines were installed to accommodate the Rav-Kav ticketing system.
  On Saturday, February 4, 2017, a fire erupted in the Paris Square station after working hours. One of the two trainsets was heavily damaged, as well as parts of the tunnel. As a result, the line was once more shut down and underwent an upgrade that included replacing both trainsets with new ones (supplied by Doppelmayr's Swiss subsidiary which built the original trainsets), a new control center, and a major refurbishing of the systems and infrastructure. It reopened in October 2018.
caption: The Carmelit train before the fire in 2017
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