Hadera West Railway Station

Hadera Ma'arav (West) Railway Station ( _he. תחנת הרכבת חדרה מערב, "Taḥanat HaRakevet Ḥadera Ma'arav") is an Israel Railways passenger station located in the city of Hadera. It serves the city, including its large industrial zones, as well as other small communities in the area.

Location

The station is part of the North-South coastal line. It is located at the western edge of the city of Hadera, at the southern end of Dereh HaRakevet ( _he. דרך הרכבת, "The Train Road").

History

Until 1957, Hadera had only one railway station at the eastern edge of the town, which was constructed in the 1920s by the British during their Mandate for Palestine, and which was connected to Haifa and later to Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv via the now defunct "Eastern Railway Line".

The new and improved "Coastal Railway Line" was constructed during the early 1950s, and shortens the journey between Haifa and Tel Aviv by 20 minutes (from 1 hour and 20 minutes to just over 1 hour). The new railway line connects to the old one about 2.5 km north of Hadera's only railway station, which means the town isn't served by the new Haifa – Tel Aviv passenger service.

In order to include Hadera in the improved Haifa – Tel Aviv passenger service a new railway station is built in Hadera – Hadera Ma'arav (West) Railway Station. It is located 5 km south of the intersection of the Eastern and Coastal Railway Lines and 5 km west of the old railway station (now called Hadera Mizrah (East) Railway Station). The new station opened to the public on November 27, 1957. The location of the station, far from the city center, means that passenger numbers were fairly low throughout its history.

The station underwent reconstruction and preservation during the early 1990s.

With the inauguration of the new Tel Aviv suburban service (Binyamina/Netanya - Tel Aviv - Rehovot/Ashkelon Suburban Service) at the late 1990s Hadera Ma'arav ceased to be a station on the Tel Aviv – Haifa InterCity Service and became a suburban station on the Tel Aviv suburban service.

In 2001, the station was updated to the present passenger station format of Israel Railways.

Design

The station consists of a side platform and an island platform, numbered 1 to 3 from east to west. Between the side platform and the island platform, there are two parallel rail tracks, and an additional track to the west of platform 3. There are also several free tracks to the west of the station used by freight trains.

The station hall is located to the east of the rail tracks. The two platforms are interconnected by a pedestrian tunnel.

Platform 1 is used for southbound suburban trains, platform 2 for northbound suburban trains. Platform 3 is used for suburban trains when it is necessary to allow an InterCity train to get ahead of the suburban train in Hadera (instead of the usual Binyamina) in order to reduce delays.

Train service

Hadera Ma'arav (West) Railway Station is a station on the Tel Aviv suburban line (Binyamina/Netanya – Tel Aviv – Rehovot/Ashkelon Suburban Service). Almost all Inter-City trains pass through this station without stopping, except on the weekends and early morning / late night trains. The station is situated between Caesarea-Pardes Hanna Railway Station to the north and Netanya Railway Station to the south.

Timetable highlights:

*Suburban Service:
**On weekdays, the station is served by 27 southbound and 26 northbound suburban trains. The first train departs at 06:27 and the last train arrives at 21:39.
**On Fridays and holiday evenings, the station is served by five southbound and six northbound suburban trains. The first train departs at 10:59 and the last train arrives at 14:48.

*Inter-City Service:
**On weekdays, the station is served by seven early morning southbound trains (02:02-07:58), three early-morning northbound trains (04:33-06:12) and five late-night northbound trains (20:23-00:16).
**On Fridays and holiday evenings, the station is served by 18 southbound and 11 northbound trains. The first train departs at 02:02 and the last train arrives at 14:32.
**On Saturdays and holidays, the station is served by six southbound and five northbound trains. The first train departs at 19:28 and the last train arrives at 21:36.

Public transport connections

Hadera Ma'arav (West) Railway Station is located in a fairly remote location, accessible mainly by private cars.

The only public transport link is line 15 operated by Egged, which is synchronized with train arrival/departure times, but it is a one-way route, going to the railway station in the mornings and returning from the railway station in the evenings.

Facilities

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

External links

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

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