Israel's Modi'in Railroad

Who on this forum knows anything about Israel's Modi'in Railroad? It looks beautiful. Express tracks are rare to see. Especially in the desert.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _rail1.jpg

Modi'in Central Railway Station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Modi'in Central Railway Station
תחנת הרכבת מודיעין מרכז
Israel Railways
Station statistics
Address Modi'in, Israel
Coordinates 31°54′3″N, 35°0′21″E
Structure underground
Tracks 4
Parking no
Other information

takebackourtemple wrote:Who on this forum knows anything about Israel's Modi'in Railroad? It looks beautiful. Express tracks are rare to see. Especially in the desert.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/e ... _rail1.jpg

Modi'in Central Railway Station
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Modi'in Central Railway Station
תחנת הרכבת מודיעין מרכז
Israel Railways
Station statistics
Address Modi'in, Israel
Coordinates 31°54′3″N, 35°0′21″E
Structure underground
Tracks 4
Parking no
Other information

This appears to be part of the high-speed Tel Aviv-Jerusalem line currently being constructed. Israel Railways didn't even serve Jerusalem until a few years ago, and their only service there is on a slow route. Apparently the new route they are constructing has been opened between Tel Aviv and Mod'in.

The track construction and ROW appears to be state of the art, how about the engines and rolling stock ? The photo shown indicates most likely Diesel operation, but there might be some areas with electric operation.

pennsy wrote:The track construction and ROW appears to be state of the art, how about the engines and rolling stock ? The photo shown indicates most likely Diesel operation, but there might be some areas with electric operation.

I believe 125 mph electric service will come later in the project, but otherwise, I'm pretty sure Israel has never had an electric railroad.

Not even a third rail system, either a subway or elevated ?

pennsy wrote:Not even a third rail system, either a subway or elevated ?

This was a country barely developed at all until the 20th century. You're talking about cities that are either very recent, or ancient. There is a lightly-used cable car subway in Haifa called the Carmelit (shortest subway in the world), but otherwise, Israel is a bus country.

They have done a major reinvestment in their railways during the last decade. A relatively small amount of Israelis own cars, so a subway would be ideal in large cities- however, Israel doesn't have many large cities. Tel Aviv has around (I'm guessing) 2 million inhabitants, but it's a newer city built on the ancient city of Jaffa. The area around ancient Jerusalem is quite hilly, and near the volatile West Bank region. Jerusalem has less than 1 million inhabitants anyway.

The bottom line is that the expanding rail system will serve Israel's needs well enough for the time being.

Does anyone have any pictures of this new station. It seems like a rail fan's paradise.

pennsy wrote:The track construction and ROW appears to be state of the art, how about the engines and rolling stock ? The photo shown indicates most likely Diesel operation, but there might be some areas with electric operation.

They use Danish high speed DMUs for their other express services. I am sure they will use the same for this line.
(An Israeli DMU was demonstrated on the Hiawatha line a few years ago. It would have been highly suitable, except for US rules on weighty trains.)

yacov wrote:Does anyone have any pictures of this new station. It seems like a rail fan's paradise.

I'll have to take some when I go there. I'm waiting until the end of the Shmita year so I can plant trees.