News on wheels: a huge project of the Ministry of Transport and the Israel Railways is underway. The railway has published a tender for the construction of a fourth track in Ayalon. The mega-project is being carried out as part of the railway's strategic plan for the coming decades and will allow doubling the frequency of trains on all lines of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and the periphery, and increasing the number of passengers on the train by hundreds of percent.
In addition to this, a tender was published for the construction of the Ramla South station, as part of the 431 track project that is being established these days.
The station will be built near the Ramla South interchange, between Route 431 and Route 40. The project includes the construction of another new station, Mo'in Sorek, as well as an upgrade of the Rishon Lezion Rishonim station.
The Ramla South station will include a passenger hall, commercial and operational areas, control and control buildings, two 350 m long platforms and a pedestrian bridge, a parking lot with about 300 parking spaces, a public transportation terminal, and maintenance and control systems.
The integrated plan will respond to the population growth and the expected significant increase in the scope of train use in the coming years.
The number of passengers on Israel Railways, which currently stands at approximately 70 million per year, is expected to reach 200 million passengers in 2030 and 300 million in 2040. The promotion of the fourth track in Ayalon, along with other projects, including the completion of electrification of the track network and the construction of the eastern track, which is In the implementation stages, an optimal response will be provided to Israel's transportation needs for the years to come.
In the fourth rail project in Ayalon, carried out in cooperation with Israel Routes, a large-scale DB (Design-Build) tender was published, which includes the roofing of Nahal Ayalon and the construction of 4.5 km of track between the Tel Aviv Hagana and Sevidor Center stations. The tender also includes engineering preparations for the expansion of the Sevidor Center, HaShalom stations and the protection, and their adaptation to the expected increase in the number of passengers with the operation of the new track.
The section of track passing through the Tel Aviv stations currently serves about 80% of the volume of passengers, but the Ayalon axis currently includes only three tracks and is a "bottleneck" that makes it difficult to increase the frequency of trains and increase the number of passengers.
The operation of the fourth track, expected in 2029, will increase the number of trains to 26 per hour in each direction, compared to 14 trains today.
From Mashhad to Jerusalem in 45 minutes
The 431 track project will connect the Modi'in stations to the Rishon Lezion Moshe Dayan station via a 30 km electrified double track along the route of road 431. In addition to the new stations, the project includes the construction of bridges and tunnels, including a 3.5 km long railway bridge, the longest in the country, between Kiryat Rishon interchange to Rishonim station, as well as three tunnels 20 m deep under road 20, the longest of which is 450 m long.
The track is expected to start operating in 2027, with two trains per hour in each direction during peak hours.
In the next phase, with the planned expansion of the Modi'in and Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon stations, the train frequency will be doubled to four trains per hour in each direction.
When fully operational, the project is expected to transport about 15,000 passengers a day.
Track 431 is designed to shorten travel times from the southern region to Jerusalem, Modi'in and Ramla, without the need to change trains in Tel Aviv as is currently required.
The travel time between Rishon Lezion and Modi'in will be shortened to only 30 minutes compared to about an hour today, and from Rishon Lezion to Jerusalem Yitzhak Navon to only 45 minutes compared to about one hour and 20 minutes today.
The Minister of Transportation and Road Safety, Miri Regev: "The train is the backbone of the intercity public transportation system, and the most efficient way to connect all parts of the country, between the north and the south and between the center and the periphery. It is not just a means of transportation, but a social and economic lever that allows mobility and freedom A choice. I will continue to work to expand additional train lines and improve the service for the citizens of Israel."
The Israel Railways stated that increasing the capacity of train travel in the dense and busy Gush Dan will contribute to reducing congestion on the roads, will allow for an improvement in redundancy and operational flexibility, and will ensure a fast, convenient, reliable and more accurate service for passengers.
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