Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station

Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station ( _he. תחנת הרכבת חוצות המפרץ, "Taḥanat HaRakevet Ḥutzot HaMifratz") is an Israel Railways passenger station serving Hutzot HaMifratz Mall ( _he. קניון חוצות המפרץ, "Streets of the Bay Mall"), Israel's largest open-air mall, and the surrounding Haifa-Bay industrial zone just north of Haifa.

Location

The station is situated on the North-South coastal line and is located in the central part of the Haifa-Bay industrial zone. The station is one of two railway stations serving Haifa-Bay industrial zone (the other being Lev HaMifratz Railway Station), although it is much smaller in terms of passenger numbers and trains serving it. The station is also one of six railway stations within Haifa's municipal borders.

History

The station was constructed during the summer of 2001 and officially opened on October 16, 2001. This is the second public railway station whose construction was entirely funded by a private enterprise (the first being Lev HaMifratz Railway Station). The station replaced the temporary Kishon Railway Station that existed for several years some 700 meters to the north. The station consists of two side platforms with two parallel rail tracks running between them, a pedestrian tunnel connecting the two platforms and a station hall on the eastern side.

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict train service to the station was suspended after a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket hit a train depot in Haifa on July 16, 2006, killing 8 Israel Railways workers. It was restored 29 days later, on August 14, two days after the ceasefire went into effect.

Train Service

Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station is a station on both the main North-South coastal line of Israel Railways (Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport – Be'er Sheva Inter-City Service) and the suburban line serving Haifa's northern suburbs – The Qrayot (Haifa - Qiryat Motzkin Suburban Service), although only a third of all the Inter-City trains actually stop at the station. The station is situated between Qiryat Chaim Railway Station to the north and Lev HaMifratz Railway Station to the south.

*Inter-City Service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 11 southbound and 18 northbound trains. First train departs at 01:22 and last train arrives at 01:09.
**On Fridays and holiday eves the station is served by 13 southbound and 13 northbound trains. First train departs at 01:22 and last train arrives at 15:12.
**On Saturdays and holiday the station is served by 6 southbound and 4 northbound trains. The first train departs at 19:10 and the last train arrives at 22:50.

*Suburban Service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 14 southbound and 13 northbound suburban trains to and from Haifa. First train departs at 06:17 and last train arrives at 18:14.

Public Transport Connections

Hutzot HaMifratz Railway Station is located about 400 meters to the north-west of the main highway ( (Share Taxi).

Facilities

*Payphone
*Ticket cashier
*Ticket machine
*Buffet
*Parking lot
*Toilet
*Shopping facilities

External links

* [http://www.israrail.org.il/english/index.html Israel Railways website]
* [http://www.railnewsil.com/english/index.html RailnewsIL]

###@@@KEYEND@@@###