The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway is a railway line in Israel connecting the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It serves as the main rail link between the two cities, complementing the old Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. As such, the railway is often referred to in Israel as the high-speed railway to Jerusalem to distinguish it from the older, longer and slower line. In spite of that name, the line is not high-speed under the definition used by the International Union of Railways: both its design speed of and its current operational speed of are below the threshold used by the UIC to define high-speed railways, and it is traversed by IR's regular rolling stock instead of the UIC requirement for specially designed high-speed trains.
The newly constructed railway section to Jerusalem branches off from the Tel Aviv–Lod railway at the Ganot Interchange southeast of Tel Aviv and spans about of electrified double track. It cost approximately NIS 7 billion (about US$2 billion in 2008 dollars) – due to the extensive bridging and tunneling required along the mountainous route. Besides the construction of the new railway section, the existing railway from Herzliya to Ganot Interchange underwent electrification. The railway's design speed is Expertise on an alternative alignment for the new high-speed railway line A1 Tel-Aviv – Jerusalem with a projected non-stop travel time of approximately 28 minutes from Tel Aviv HaHagana railway station to Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon railway station. As of 2019, the scheduled travel time between Ben Gurion Airport railway station and Jerusalem is 22–26 minutes, and between Tel Aviv HaHagana and Jerusalem 32–34 minutes (including the stop at Ben Gurion Airport). This compared with about 75 minutes each way using the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway from Tel Aviv HaHagana to southern Jerusalem's Malha station, which unlike Jerusalem–Navon, is located relatively far from the city center.
Construction of the railway began in 2001. It was the first heavy rail line in Israel to be electrified and was originally planned to open in 2008, but various objections, bureaucratic delays and engineering difficulties caused planning and construction to span over two decades, with the line opening for service in stages. The first section, between the Ganot interchange on Highway 1 and Ben Gurion Airport opened in October 2004 and made train travel possible between Tel Aviv and the airport. Another section completed in 2007 is used by trains operating between central Israel and Modi'in. The final section opened on 25 September 2018 and enabled service between Jerusalem–Navon and Ben Gurion Airport. As electrification works progressed northwards from the airport through Tel Aviv to Herzliya, service to and from Jerusalem was extended to include additional stations, beginning with Tel Aviv HaHagana on 21 December 2019, Tel Aviv HaShalom and Savidor Central on 30 June 2020, and Tel Aviv University and Herzliya on 21 September 2020. With the completion of electrification works to Binyamina in February 2023, nighttime-only service was extended from Hertzliya to Netanya, Hadera West And Binyamina. A railway spur which opened on 31 March 2022 also enables direct service on the line between Jerusalem and Modi'in.
Eventually, trains from Jerusalem are expected to continue all the way to northern Israel as future phases of Israel Railways' electrification project are carried out along the Coastal Railway, with the long-term plan of trains originating from Jerusalem terminating at Karmiel by the mid 2020s.
Planning
After the suspension of service from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the old Jaffa–Jerusalem line in 1998 due to the poor track state, an urgent need arose to create a rail link from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Between 2000 and 2001, several alternatives were proposed: Plans S and S1 – minor repairs of the old single-track route (S), or one that also includes a few short tunnels and curve straightening (S1). Plans G and G1 – a massive repair of the old route, straightening all the curves by excavating numerous long tunnels along the route: of tunnels in G and in G1. G1 was meant to continue into central Jerusalem and terminate in an underground station at Independence Park. Plans B, B1, B2, M and M1 – construction of a new line from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem via Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut within or near Road 443. Plans A and A1 – construction of a new line between the cities nearby Highway 1, with a branch to Modi'in. These plans were recommended by the bodies that originally published them (A in 1994 and A1 in 1997 and 2000). Compared to alternative A, A1 included a considerable amount of tunneling in order to obtain a more direct route through the mountains.
Plans to build a line adjacent to Road 443 were discarded immediately, due to its being inside the West Bank. The Municipality of Jerusalem supported Plan G1, while Israel Railways supported Plan S as a quick deployment plan, followed by A1. On June 13, 2001, Transportation Minister Ephraim Sneh and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chose to proceed with Israel Railways' plan. One of the reasons was environmentalists' opposition to G1, due to the route passing through the middle of a nature reserve. Plan B2 was used for the branch to Modi'in, which was completed in 2008. This section of railway is part of the Rishon LeZion–Modi'in railway, a longer future line that will extend from Modi'in to Rishon LeZion along right-of-way reserved for it during the construction of Highway 431. As part of the implementation of plan S, the old line's reach into Jerusalem was shortened at the request of the Jerusalem municipality. Instead of terminating at the Jerusalem Railway Station, the renovated line terminated at the new Malha Station in southern Jerusalem.
Following plan S rehabilitation, trains using the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway reached southern Jerusalem in about 75 minutes from Tel Aviv. This relatively long travel time, the non-central location of Malha station, and the low capacity of the line due to its eastern section consisting of only single-track meant that it continued to be one of the least-used lines in Israel Railways' network, despite connecting two large metropolises. In contrast, the travel time from Tel Aviv to central Jerusalem using the A1 route is approximately 30 minutes, and enables a high frequency of trains to operate along the route; when the A1 route opened in 2018, it quickly became the most heavily-used line in the network.
Construction Construction began in 2001 and was divided into multiple sections: Tel Aviv – Ben Gurion Airport (western part of Railway 27) – the line begins approximately southeast of Tel Aviv's HaHagana Railway Station, where it branches off from the Tel Aviv – Lod railway through a tunnel under the northern set of lanes of Highway 1 and the northern set of tracks of the Tel Aviv – Lod railway, at a point located between the Ganot and Shafirim interchanges, and from there connects to Ben Gurion's Terminal 3. Construction was completed in 2004 and regular service to the airport started in October of that year. Ben Gurion Airport – Kfar Daniel (eastern part of Railway 27) – from terminal 3 the line continues to the southeast, passing over a 550 m bridge over Highway 1, then crosses over Highway 40 and the Eastern Railway, proceeds to another bridge over Highway 443 and continues towards the Anava Interchange where it branches off towards the new Modi'in Center Railway Station through a series of bridges and tunnels. The line also connects with the Eastern Railway near the Lod Interchange providing a connection between the airport and the Lod Railway Station to the south. Construction started in 2004 and ended in 2007, with service to Paatei Modi'in Station starting in September 2007. Kfar Daniel – Latrun (Section A) – this section was built by Danya Cebus and was completed in 2011, at a cost of NIS 250 million. It includes a prominent bridge over the Ayalon Valley that was completed in 2008 and which is often claimed as the "longest railway bridge in Israel". However, this assertion is incorrect since the bridge supporting the elevated railway approaching HaMifrats Central railway station and its platforms on the Jezreel Valley railway in northern Israel that opened in 2016 is almost twice as long. Latrun – Sha'ar HaGai (Section B) – includes a tunnel under Canada Park, the tender for which was awarded in July 2010. This section was completed in 2015 by the Israeli construction firm Minrav in association with the Russian company Moscow MetroStroy at a cost of NIS 560 million. Tunnel excavation started on February 6, 2012, with one TBM. Each TBM costs NIS 100 million (not including NIS 100 million in supplementary equipment) and weighs about 1,800 tons. It was expected to excavate 20 m each day. Sha'ar HaGai and Mevaseret Zion (Section C) – the tender was awarded in September 2009 and preliminary site work began November 2009 with expected overall completion in 2014–2016. The most complicated part of the project involves two bridges and several tunnels, one of which, tunnel 3, is the longest in Israel. It is composed of a pair of parallel tunnels, each 9.2 m wide and 11.6 km in length, approximately three quarters of was to be bored using two TBMs working simultaneously from the west and the remainder bored conventionally from the east. The companies that performed this work are the Israeli firm Shapir Civil & Marine Engineering Ltd. in partnership with the Italian engineering firm Impresa Pizzarotti. Conventional boring of tunnel 3 from east to west started in March 2012 while TBM excavation from west to east started in September 2012 and were completed in October 2014. Mevaseret Zion – Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon Railway Station, Jerusalem (Section D) – includes two bridges, two parallel single-track tunnels 800–900 meters in length, and a 2.9 kilometre tunnel. Completion is estimated to take four years. The tender for construction was awarded in the fall of 2009 to Hofrey Hasharon Ltd. and the German holding company Max Bögl. The estimated cost is NIS 640 million, not including bridge 10, which will cost an additional NIS 150 million and will be based on the design of the Črni Kal Viaduct in Slovenia. This section is supervised by Dana Engineering.
Bridges and tunnels Below is a breakdown of the tunnels, bridges and underpasses found along the route. NameLocationIntersectionTypeLengthShafirim InterchangeUnder Route 412 and the westbound direction of Highway 1UnderpassBetween Hemed and TzafriaUnder Road 4404UnderpassBridge 1Ben Gurion InterchangeAbove Highway 1Bridge550–600 mBetween Lod Interchange and Lod Bridge JunctionOver the Eastern Railway and Highway 40BridgeEast of Ginaton JunctionOver Route 443BridgeDaniel InterchangeOver Highway 6BridgeBridge 4Near Sha'alvimOver entrance road to Sha'alvimBridge120 mBridge 5Near Sha'alvimBridge180 mBridge 6Valley of AjalonOver Highway 3 and the valleyViaduct1,200–1,250 m(40 m tall)Tunnel 1Canada ParkUnder the parkTunnel (TBM)2 × 3.5 kmBridge 7South of Mevo HoronBridge80 mTunnel 2Near NatafTunnel(25% C&C, 75% NATM)2 × 1,250 m Bridge 8West of NatafOver Yitla StreamBridge150 mTunnel 3Sha'ar HaGai, Abu GhoshUnder Mount HaRu'ah, Mount HaHagana, Abu GhoshTunnel(75% TBM, 25% NATM)2 × 11.6 kmBridge 9Mevaseret ZionBridge255 mTunnel 3aMevaseret ZionTunnel (NATM)2 × 850 mBridge 10Mevaseret ZionBridge975 m(95 m tall)Tunnel 4Jerusalem—from near Ginot Saharov to Binyanei HaUmaUnder LiftaTunnel (NATM)2.9 km
Electrification