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Nitzan residents are struggling to arrange a road to enter the settlement: "They laid siege to us" - Walla! news

2021-10-30T08:32:40.647Z


For more than a week, the residents of Nitzan have been blocking train traffic to the locality, in protest of the closure of a junction that connected it to Road 4, which causes an extension of the departure time from it. However, the Ministry of Transportation insists that closing the crossing was necessary to save lives. According to the infrastructure plan in the area, a solution to the complicated situation is very far away


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Nitzan residents struggle to arrange a road to the entrance to the settlement: "They laid siege to us"

For more than a week, the residents of Nitzan have been blocking train traffic to the locality, in protest of the closure of a junction that connected it to Road 4, which causes an extension of the departure time from it.

However, the Ministry of Transportation insists that closing the crossing was necessary to save lives.

According to the infrastructure plan in the area, a solution to the complicated situation is very far away

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  • Nitzan

  • Israel Railways

  • Demonstrations

  • Department of Transportation

Keinan Cohen Weiner will defend

Friday, 29 October 2021, 04:29 Updated: Saturday, 30 October 2021, 11:19

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The residents of the Nitzan locality in the Hof Ashkelon Regional Council are continuing their struggle to regulate the entrance to the locality, and this week they have been blocking the railroad tracks that pass through the entrance almost every evening.

According to them, the solutions provided by the Ministry of Transport are not appropriate.



The story of the closure of the interchange began in July 2020, when the new Ashkelon interchange was opened and at the same time the junction between Nitzan and Highway 4, which passes from north to south and also includes a road-rail junction, was closed.

According to the Ministry of Transport, this encounter has for many years been classified as a very dangerous area with hundreds of "red incidents" in which there is a dangerous proximity between vehicles and trains.

The meeting was closed as part of a very extensive move by the Ministry of Transport in recent years, which promotes the closure of such meetings.

Indeed, dozens of points have been closed in recent years, preventing quite a few accidents.



The solutions provided in such cases are a level separation between the road and the track, but at present this is still far from being realized.

In July 2020 it was at a stage of early and statutory planning, with the most optimistic assessments being to open in 2023. As of today, there has been no change in the situation and even a worsening in the chances of finding a solution.

According to a source in Netivei Israel, only when the planning is completed will they know how to estimate the work expectations, since it depends on budgeting.

And the planning itself?

This was done as part of a master plan (national infrastructure plan) for the southern section of Highway 4, the implementation horizon of which is currently not visible.

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"The Ministry of Transportation laid siege to the settlement of Nitzan" (Photo: official website, -)

Itamar Revivo, head of the Hof Ashkelon council, who is one of the leaders in the struggle, claims that in the given situation, the Ministry of Transportation is in fact imposing a siege on the locality of Nitzan. "They came with an arbitrary decision, closed the entrance to the settlement, claimed that there were problems with the electrification of the track, and said that within two months they would be completed. As we see until this moment, the passage has not been opened."



This means that Nitzan residents have to travel four kilometers every day south to the Ashkelon North interchange and then north. This is a delay in their travel time by at least half an hour each day. However, the matter goes beyond the realm of inconvenience when an ambulance or fire truck has to get there urgently.



"We promoted a plan for Netivei Israel to exit northern from the Nitzan settlement," says Revivo. "There are a lot of objections, and only now are we starting to think of a solution, but in the meantime we are suffering. Now we demand the opening of the Nitzan settlement until a solution is found."



According to the residents of Nitzan, there is a plan from 2010 for a level separation of the road and the railroad while solving transportation to the locality.

"Everywhere you close a crossing they make a bridge so that people can get out, do not throw the people. Now that I turn to the train director he claims he has not been instructed to carry out the existing plan from 2010. The anger seen at the junction stems from frustration of residents.

These are not people who just come to demonstrate, it hurts them and no one hears them. "

"Demand the opening of the settlement until a solution is found" (Photo: official website, -)

In addition to the residents of Nitzan who make daily use of the road, it is a road used by hundreds of thousands of people who come to the beach for example. "Where will they travel from? A road that is without borders? Want to promote a road? No problem - open until an appropriate solution is found. All the solutions had to be found before closing the crossing. We intend to aggravate the check if we do not receive clear answers from the Ministry of Transport. My office at the junction on the track, the office of the head of the council will reach as far as the Nitzan junction. "



Protest leader Moti Elbaz claims that this is a serious injury to the residents of Nitzan, which sometimes even causes great concern for human life. "Israel Railways defines it as an 'alternative solution nearby,' what does that actually mean? That if you get in and out of Nitzan you have to travel another 16 km. During rush hour, it is a half-hour drive due to the use of a narrow road. "



This is not only a problem for private car drivers, but also for public transport passengers - the same public transport that the Minister of Transport has raised to the top of the ministry's priorities. "Once they did this, they created a serious problem for public transportation," says Elbaz. Him away. Once the junction has been closed there is no such option. Now the same people have to travel to the destination, for example Ashkelon, and from there take another bus to Nitzan, and their frequency is a problem in itself because there are a total of 8-10 such trips a day. So, in fact, they also crushed the users of the "Nitzan" team.



According to him, even the recognition of the problem by the National Transport Authority, and the addition of the lines, do not really provide a solution.

"They will increase the number of buses to Nitzan and that is nice, but most people do not travel on these lines because they do not travel to Ashkelon or Ashdod. The closure of the junction almost doubled the way from Ashdod to Nitzan."

He adds that there is a danger on the access road to the interchange, "The road is very dangerous. It is a road intended for travel between two settlements, but today trucks and buses pass through the road which is so narrow and borderless to escape to, because on one side there is a sidewalk and on the other there is a canal. You deviate from the road and fly either to a frontal accident or to a canal - just choose where you are more likely to live. "

More on Walla!

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Police have opened an investigation

To the full article

The Ministry of Transportation stated that "The Ministry of Transportation and Road Safety prioritizes the safety of passengers in all means of transportation and roads, and is working in this light. In addition, Israel Railways is in an advanced process of reaching an agreement with farmers who are economically affected by the closure, in access to their fields.


We are also working to find a solution to the claims of the residents of Nitzan, are in constant contact with the residents and the council, and call on them to stop the demonstrations, which harm public transportation, which is a critical national infrastructure for the state.


"As long as the demonstrations continue, the ministry's officials deal with this on an ongoing basis with the law enforcement agencies, in order to ensure safe transportation for passengers and passengers of public transportation."



Israel Railways stated that "the meeting in question closed earlier this year according to the instructions of the traffic commissioner, after a bridge was completed that constitutes an alternative level separation near the meeting, which allows it to be closed while maintaining the safety of all road users and improving train service."

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Source: walla

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