Atlit Railway Station

Atlit תחנת עתלית
Israel Railways
Location	Harduf St., HaRakevet Quarter, West Atlit
Coordinates	32°41′33.91″N 34°56′24.73″E / 32.6927528°N 34.9402028°E / 32.6927528; 34.9402028Coordinates: 32°41′33.91″N 34°56′24.73″E / 32.6927528°N 34.9402028°E / 32.6927528; 34.9402028
Platforms	2
Tracks	3
Construction
Parking	50 spaces (3 handicap)
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	1930

Atlit Railway Station (Hebrew: תחנת הרכבת עתלית‎‎, Taḥanat HaRakevet Atlit) is an Israel Railways passenger station serving the town of Atlit as well as the surrounding rural communities and military bases.

Location

The station is situated on the North-South coastal line and is located on the north-western edge of the town of Atlit.

History

The station was constructed in the 1930s by the British, during their Mandate for Palestine. The station was designed both as a passenger station and as a freight station serving the nearby salt plant constructed in 1922.

Despite its relatively limited size and significance, passenger trains have been serving the station almost continuously since its opening, this is because the station is located on the main Haifa – Tel Aviv passenger line.

During the 1990s the station underwent a complete restoration, which included an update to the present passenger station format of Israel Railways as well as the erection of a second platform, a pedestrian bridge connecting the two platforms and the preservation of the original stone station hall.

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. The service was reinstated several days later, after Israel Railways gave in to heavy public pressure and reopened both Atlit Railway Station and Hof HaCarmel Railway Station.

Design

The station consists of a side platform and an island platform with two parallel rail tracks running between them and a third track on the west side of the island platform. The small station hall is located on the side platform to the east of the rail tracks and a pedestrian bridge and tunnel connect the two platforms.

Platform 1 (the eastern one) is used by southbound trains while Platform 2 (the western one) by northbound trains.

Train service

Atlit Railway Station is a station on the main North-South coastal line of Israel Railways (Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport Inter-City Service), although only about a third of all the intercity trains actually stop at the station. It also serves as a terminus for trains operating on the Jezreel Valley railway. The station is situated between Hof HaCarmel Railway Station to the north and Binyamina Railway Station to the south.

• On weekdays the station is served by 15 southbound and 15 northbound Inter-City trains. First train departs at 05:14 and last train arrives at 23:41.
• On Fridays and holiday eves the station is served by 10 southbound and 9 northbound trains. First train departs at 05:17 and last train arrives at 14:54.
• On Saturdays and holidays the station is served by 1 southbound and 1 northbound trains. The first train departs at 20:17 and the other train arrives at 20:25.

Public transport connections

Atlit Railway Station is located in a fairly remote location, accessible mainly by private cars. The only public transport link is provide by the circular Line 221 connecting the station to Haifa Hof HaCarmel Central Bus Station. The bus on this line runs about every 50 minutes and is not synchronized with train arrival or departure times.

References

External links

• Israel Railways website