Two years of work ended in a sudden closure.

What happened to the Sharon train?

Notice at night of the immediate shutdown of the train, confused passengers and angry mayors.

A month after the launch of the new schedule, the Sharon Ring is having difficulty operating regularly and the conduct of the Israel Railways raises troubling safety questions.

Local authorities attacked: "An incident that needs to be investigated"

Keenan Cohen

26/01/2022

Wednesday, 26 January, 2022, 09:15 Updated: 09:19

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Just a month ago, the schedule was inaugurated.

The electric train (Photo: Official website, Israel Railways)

A sudden announcement came last night (Tuesday) by the Israel Railways about the closure of stations in the Sharon and the disruption of traffic in the Ring of Sharon area led to confusion and anger of passengers and mayors, and flooded troubling questions about the conduct of the train.

Exactly a month ago, the new schedule was inaugurated, along with the route of the new and electric trains at the "Ring of the Sharon" that connects Herzliya and Ashkelon.

An opening that came after many months of work, disruptions, delays and downtime.

However, the joy that the train passengers will now enjoy faster, more frequent and regular service did not last long.

From waves of illness that hit the train crews and led to a reduction in the frequency of the line from the second week of January to a power outage that stopped train traffic between Raanana and Tel Aviv.

Last night, however, at night, train passengers using this line received another sudden announcement that the Hod Hasharon Sokolov and Raanana South stations would be closed from this morning until further notice.

The reason for the closure reads as follows: "During the execution of planned infrastructure works at the Kfar Saba Nordau and Hod Hasharon Sokolov stations, there was a need to strengthen a number of engineering centers on the station ceiling."

Is the shutdown justified?

On the face of it, a worthy and justifiable reason. But it's a little hard for passengers to get it. For after such a long period of work on electrifying and upgrading the railway infrastructure, could not have seized the opportunity and also found the time to examine the whole envelope? The train claims that there was no such possibility, since the electrical work was done above ground, while here it is the infrastructure below the track.

Wait, "infrastructure under the track?" Indeed, further investigation has revealed other findings. First, it appears that the reason for the closure of the station is not exactly the same "engineering centers on the ceiling of the stations" but the concrete piles below the platforms. Second, if the defects were found at the Kfar Saba and Hod Hasharon stations, why is only one of them disabled and why is the Raanana South station where no defects were found at all?

According to a source on the train, the defects found do not require a complete shutdown of the stations at all.

However, they do require moving the lines on a single track instead of two tracks today, to allow work crews access to piles, and since switching to full-scale train traffic on a single track section is not possible due to the "bottleneck" created, the need to redesign the order and schedule Of trains and change the timing of their transitions.

More on Walla!

Hod Hasharon Sokolov and Raanana Darom train stations will be temporarily closed until further notice

To the full article

This is also where the Raanana South station comes into the picture, where it was decided to stop the activity due to the small number of passengers in it and its proximity to the Raanana West station, and to provide free transportation to the nearby station.

Since the cancellation of a station on the line and its "unification" allows flexibility in the planning of times.

But even after these explanations, one very central question remains, that more than the construction or infrastructure defects in the stations anger the passengers and should bother if not the train then the Ministry of Transport: why such messages are given to the public on notice in such a short time.

And if this is not the case, as the source on the train says with defects that require immediate evacuation, why not give passengers a more reasonable period of time to prepare.

Well, two possible answers.

The first is that maybe updating the passengers and allowing those who do use the train frequently despite everything, is less critical.

The second possibility is that perhaps the defects are more critical than what the train is trying to paint.

Either way, not an ideal situation.

Absent attendance

Ilai Harsgor-Handin, deputy mayor of Kfar Saba and holder of the transportation portfolio, attacked Israel Railways: That spoiler. "

Amir Kochavi, Mayor of Hod Hasharon, joined: "Unfortunately, in recent years the train has become an absent presence for the residents, its existence is known, but we can hardly and can not use it. "The damage to the residents and residents of Hod Hasharon and to ensure a full investigation of the events that led to the immediate closure and without any notice of the station. The safety of passengers and passengers above all,

On the train it is not possible to say how long the repairs will take.

Its initial announcement indicates that this is more than a month of change in vintage schedules.

However, in a conversation that Kfar Saba mayor Rafi Saar had with the train director general, it was said that they are expected to last for months.

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