Trains between Netanya and Tel Aviv to halt over weekend
Due to disruption on key north-south line, free shuttles to airport will be provided, bus lines between cities to be boosted
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As construction for a new high-speed train to Jerusalem continues apace, trains between Netanya and Tel Aviv will close for the weekend, Israel Railways announced on Thursday.
Southbound train lines from Netanya, Herzliya and Beit Yehoshua into Tel Aviv will be shut to allow for infrastructure work. Northbound trains from Beersheba will end their journeys at Tel Aviv-University station and not continue north to Herzliya.
The closure starts Thursday evening at 10 p.m. until Sunday at 5 a.m. Since trains in Israel don’t operate on Shabbat, only commuters who would have traveled on Friday before sundown and Saturday after sundown would have been affected.
Shuttles will be provided to passengers free of charge from Netanya to Ben-Gurion Airport during operating hours, and bus lines from Netanya to Tel Aviv and Haifa to Tel Aviv will be boosted, the state-owned railways company said.
The closure, said a spokesman for Israel Railways, will allow for work “on three projects in two areas: lay out tracks in Netanya for future connection with the high-speed train to Jerusalem, rehabilitation and replacement of some tracks in Herzliya, and infrastructure work in Netanya.”
Earlier this month, Tel Aviv’s Hashalom train station was closed for nearly a week to allow for construction on the Red Line of the light rail, the first line of Tel Aviv’s light-rail system, which is set to be completed by 2021.
Commuters were forced to traverse roads jam-packed with cars and buses during the closure.
The Times of Israel Community.