Heletz railway

Lone JT42CW freight locomotive on the Heletz Railway near Sde David.

The Heletz Railway is a 20 km railway in southern Israel which connects the Railway to Beersheba from a point just south of Kiryat Gat to the Lod–Ashkelon railway near moshav Mavki'im. The track passes close to moshav Heletz, from which it derives its name.

History

The railway was constructed by Israel Railways in the early 1980s, to provide a shortcut for freight trains from southern Israel headed for the Port of Ashdod. Previously, such trains had to be routed through the Lod Railway Station in central Israel. The railway was once used for some limited passenger service, though today it is used by passenger trains only on an emergency basis—in instances when the Lod – Kiryat Gat section of the Railway to Beersheba is blocked.

Development

The Ashkelon-Beersheba railway which opened in 2015 to the south of the Heletz railway provides an alternate rail connection between the Railway to Beersheba and the Lod-Ashkelon railway.

Israel Railways has proposed a plan to extend the Heletz railway from Kiryat Gat to Tarqumiyah in the future as a means of providing a rail connection between the Gaza Strip and the southern West Bank.

Railways in Israel

Rail transport in Israel Israel Railways

Coastal railway	Nahariya Akko Kiryat Motzkin Kiryat Haim Hutzot HaMifratz Lev HaMifratz Haifa Center Haifa Bat Galim Haifa Hof HaCarmel Atlit Binyamina Caesarea-Pardes Hanna Hadera West Netanya Beit Yehoshua Herzliya

Jezreel Valley railway (under construction)	Haifa East Nesher Kfar Yehoshu'a Kfar Barukh Afula Beit She'an

HaSharon circular railway	Bnei Brak Petah Tikva Kiryat Aryeh Petah Tikva Sgula Rosh HaAyin North Hod HaSharon Kfar Saba Ra'anana East (planned) Ra'anana West (planned)

Tel Aviv–Lod section	Tel Aviv University Tel Aviv Center Tel Aviv HaShalom Tel Aviv HaHagana Kfar Chabad Lod Ganei Aviv Lod

Tel Aviv–Ashdod railway	Holon Junction Holon Wolfson Bat Yam Yoseftal Bat Yam Komemiyut Rishon LeZion Moshe Dayan Yavne West

Railway to Jerusalem	Ramla Beit Shemesh Biblical Zoo Jerusalem Malha

High-speed line to Jerusalem/Modi'in	Ben Gurion Airport Pa'atei Modi'in Modi'in Center Jerusalem Binyanei HaUma (under construction)

Lod–Ashkelon railway	Be'er Ya'akov Rehovot Yavne East Bnei Darom (planned) Ashdod Ad Halom Ashkelon Rishon LeZion HaRishonim

Railway to Beersheba	Kiryat Mal'akhi (planned) Kiryat Gat Lehavim-Rahat Be'er Sheva North Be'er Sheva Center Dimona

Ashkelon–Beersheba railway	Sderot Netivot Ofakim

Railway to Karmiel (under construction)	Ahihud Karmiel

Other lines: Eastern railway Heletz railway Planned lines: Rishon LeZion–Modi'in railway Hadera–Afula railway Railway to Eilat Railway to Arad

Coordinates: 31°35′52″N 34°39′56″E / 31.597673°N 34.665583°E / 31.597673; 34.665583

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