Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station

Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station ( _he. תחנת הרכבת חיפה בת גלים, "Taḥanat HaRakevet Ḥeifa Bat Gailm") is an Israel Railways passenger station serving the city of Haifa. The station takes its name from the neighborhood of Bat Galim, where it is located. The station was Haifa's main train station from its construction in 1975 until the early 2000s.

Location

The station is situated on the North-South coastal line and is located in on the southern edges of Bat Galim neighborhood. It is adjacent to Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station and within walking distance of Haifa Port and Rambam Health Care Campus. The station is one of three railway stations serving the city of Haifa directly and also one of six railway stations within Haifa's municipal borders.

History

Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station was built in 1975, along with Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station as part of a large public transport center between the main highway which runs through the city (Highway 4 ) and the Bat Galim neighborhood. The station soon became Haifa's main railway station, largely thanks to its vicinity to the central bus station.

The station was constructed with a fairly large station hall, two side platforms and three parallel rail tracks (the middle one used for freight trains bypassing passenger trains stopped at the station). The station also has a pedestrian tunnel connection the two platforms and extending to the central bus station and then to the other side of HaHagana Boulevard (some 220 m).

During the late 1990s the Haifa - Kiryat Motzkin Suburban Service was established and Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station was its southern terminus. In order to accommodate the suburban trains a new short bay platform named 1A was built. With the construction of Hof HaCarmel Railway Station, which replaced Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station as the southern terminus, platform 1A became unused.

In the early 2000s the station was updated to the preset passenger station format of Israel Railways and was superficially renovated, leaving much of the 30-year-old wear-and-tear in place.

The station's decline, as did its ascent, is attributed to the adjacent central bus station. In a plan to ease traffic congestion in downtown Haifa most of the regular bus traffic was rerouted so that it starts and ends at the newly constructed central bus stations at the outskirts of the city (northbound buses terminate at Mifratz Central Bus Station as of January 1, 2001 and southbound buses terminate at the Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station as of fall 2003). This plan made the Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station virtually deserted, with only a few city bus lines passing through it. The sharp decline in passenger number at the central bus station greatly effected passenger traffic at Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station as well, making it a large station with very few passengers.

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

Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station is a station on both the main North-South coastal line of Israel Railways (Nahariya – Haifa – Tel-Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport Inter-City Service) and the suburban line serving Haifa's northern suburbs – the Krayot (Haifa - Kiryat Motzkin Suburban Service). The station is situated between Haifa Center Railway Station to the north and Hof HaCarmel Railway Station to the south.

*Inter-City Service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 40 southbound and 44 northbound trains. First train departs at 04:58 and last train arrives at 00:52.
**On Fridays and holiday eves the station is served by 19 southbound and 19 northbound trains. First train departs at 05:01 and last train arrives at 15:38.
**On Saturdays and holiday the station is served by 6 southbound and 5 northbound trains. First train departs at 18:50 and last train arrives at 22:16.

*Suburban Service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 14 southbound and 12 northbound suburban trains to and from the Krayot. First train departs at 07:00 and last train arrives at 19:07.

Public Transport Connections

Haifa Bat Galim Railway Station is adjacent to Haifa Bat Galim Central Bus Station, and connected to it via a pedestrian tunnel. Although the central bus station ceased to be Haifa's main central bus station it is still served by some 14 city bus lines and is fairly easily accessible from any part of the city.

External links

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

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