Many residents of the Sharon woke up this morning (Wednesday) to the sudden announcement by the Israel Railways about the temporary shutdown of the Hod Hasharon-Sokolov and Raanana South stations.
By train, they explained that the move was required for the purpose of strengthening the ceilings of the stations, and announced that free commuters would be operated at the passengers' disposal using the full method and travel to the Raanana West and Kfar Saba-Nordau stations.
The announcement, which was published without prior notice, provoked great anger among the residents of Sharon, and the municipalities in the area attacked the decision.
"The scandalous conduct of Israel Railways, which did not even bother to notify in advance and in an orderly manner the residents who use the train services about the expected shutdown from today, is a new record in disconnection," said Kfar Saba Mayor Rafi Saar.
"Some of the residents heard about it last night but some had to hear about the sudden closure this morning, and differ in that they are late for their occupations."
He said, "This is not the first time that Israel Railways has operated abruptly without updating residents and without sharing with the authorities. Appropriate in such cases, and not letting us discover in indirect ways, things would have looked different.
"The presentation of this news by the train management is impudence and spitting in the faces of the passengers. I intend to contact the Minister of Transport MK Merav Michaeli will resolve this omission. I sincerely hope that the Minister of Transport will thoroughly deal with this conduct. To act in such a disgraceful and unprofessional manner towards road users. "
Hod Hasharon Mayor Amir Kochavi joined him: "After two years of Saturdays due to the train's electrification work, we were surprised to receive an announcement of the immediate shutdown of the train station for an unknown time due to safety needs. But we can hardly and can not use it.I turned to the Minister of Transport and her staff in an attempt to jointly produce immediate solutions in public transport, to reduce the damage to residents and residents of Hod Hasharon and ensure full investigation of the events that led to immediate closure and without any notice of the station.
"The safety of passengers and passengers above all, but this incident and the conduct within it is not proper and should be investigated in order to prevent the recurrence of similar cases in the future.
"Investigate the subject in depth"
Raanana Mayor Haim Broida also referred to the closure of the stations in Sharon and described the decision as a "scandal."
"This significantly disrupts the residents' agenda and it would have been appropriate for the Israel Railways and the Ministry of Transportation to update the municipality and the residents in advance to give time to prepare properly," Broida said.
"I see great importance in the use of public transportation, and such cases undermine the trust and ability to trust the proper operation of Israel Railways, after years of malfunction in our area. I call on the Minister of Transport to investigate the issue in depth, so that such failures do not happen again. ".
Minister Merav Michaeli, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Indeed, Transport Minister Merav Michaeli announced this morning that he had ordered an investigation into the matter.
"As soon as I learned that Israel Railways was closing two stations - Hod Hasharon Sokolov and Raanana South - following the discovery of a safety defect that has existed for many years, I instructed the ministry's officials to set up an inspection committee to investigate the incident and ensure that such incidents do not return.
Unfortunately, we repeatedly find faults from the past, which harm the basic service to the public, but I am glad that I have the right to act to correct them in the highest quality, and certainly when it comes to human life and travel safety.
"I demanded that the train act in the fastest and highest quality way to deal with the defect, with an unequivocal clarification that they must provide all the necessary answers to the public for whom the service has been damaged and take action to update the public earlier about the changes." And it is their responsibility to take care of that. "
Yaron Doron participated in the preparation of the article
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