Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station

Tel Aviv Savidor Central Station
תחנת תל אביב סבידור מרכז
تل أبيب مركز سافيدور
Israel Railways
Location 10 Al Parashat Drakhim St., Tel Aviv
Coordinates 32°05′02″N 34°47′54″E / 32.08389°N 34.79833°E / 32.08389; 34.79833Coordinates: 32°05′02″N 34°47′54″E / 32.08389°N 34.79833°E / 32.08389; 34.79833
Platforms 3
Tracks 6
Construction
Parking 3000 payable spaces
Bicycle facilities 50 spaces
Disabled access Yes
History
Opened November 3, 1954
Rebuilt 1988
Traffic
Passengers (2010) 9,722,274

Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station (Hebrew: תֵּל אָבִיב סָבִידוֹר מֶרְכָּז‎, Tel Aviv Savidor Merkaz, Arabic: تل أبيب مركز سافيدور‎‎) is the main central train station of Tel Aviv. It is one of the main railway hubs of Israel, located on the eastern side of Tel Aviv, at the border between Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. The station was opened to the public in November 1954 under the name Tel Aviv Central.

The station serves most rail lines in Israel and has 6 passenger platforms—more than any other station in Israel—and is also the busiest in terms of passenger movements, serving a daily average of 70,073 passengers in December 2014. Despite not being a terminus for most lines, it serves as a terminal for travel to all parts of Israel. The station is located next to the 2000 Terminal in the west and the Diamond Exchange District (of Ramat Gan) in the east. Like all railway stations in Tel Aviv, the tracks lie between the southbound and northbound lanes of Ayalon Highway. The tracks are connected by escalators, stairways and elevators for disabled persons to a bridge which connects them with the terminal building (on the Tel Aviv side) and the Diamond Exchange District (on the Ramat Gan side). An underground station of the future Red Line light rail is being built at the site to be opened by October 2021. Also under construction in 2016 is a northern access pavilion fronting Modaii bridge, adding a third passenger entry and exit point out of the station which will facilitate passengers who need access to the nearby Diamond Exchange Commercial District in neighboring Ramat-Gan.

It is named after Menachem Savidor, Israel Railways' chairman between 1954–1964 and later the speaker of the Knesset.

History

Entrance

The railway station was originally the terminus of the Coastal railway line, which opened on November 3, 1954 and reached what was then the northern fringe of Tel Aviv. For the next four decades, it handled only trains to the north, therefore it was colloquially known as the Tel Aviv North station. This name is misleading, though, because "Tel Aviv North" was a previous name of the Bnei Brak Railway Station. Railway traffic to the south of the city was provided through Tel Aviv South Railway Station, which was not connected with Tel Aviv Center.

Until 1980 the head office of Israel Railways was located at the Haifa Central Station. Tzvi Tzafriry, the general manager of Israel Railways, decided to move the head office to Tel Aviv Savidor.[1]

In its initial configuration the station's platforms were located directly north of the terminal building, to the west of their present location. In 1988, when the Ayalon railway was continued further south, the station's platforms were moved to their current location, and a pedestrian bridge was built to connect them to the terminal building. The station with its relocated tracks was opened to the public on January 10, 1988, and the official opening took place on May 3 of the same year.[2] In 1993 the station ceased being a terminal station when the Ayalon section of the coastal railway was extended to link with the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway in southern Tel Aviv. At that point, the little-used Tel Aviv South station (which unlike Tel Aviv Central was not located on the Ayalon railway itself) was closed for passengers and services operating to it were routed to the more conveniently-located Tel Aviv Central station instead. Between the closing of the Tel Aviv South Railway Station and the opening of Tel Aviv HaShalom Railway Station in 1996, Tel Aviv Central was the only active passenger railway station in Tel Aviv. Nowadays, Tel Aviv Central is one of four active passenger railway stations located within Tel Aviv's municipal borders.

In May 2009 Yediot Aharonot said that Israel Railways was planning to move the head office to Lod. In response the railway company said this was necessary to centralize the various offices around Israel, to use a more central location in the country and to have more inexpensive land. The company said this was also central to a major railway station.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 "From press release of May." (Press Release May 2009) (Archive) Israel Railways. Retrieved on 9 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Cotterell, Paul (December 1989). Rothschild, Walter, ed. "All Change at Tel Aviv". HaRakevet (6).
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Tel Aviv Central Savidor train station.
Preceding station   Israel Railways   Following station
Towards: Nahariya
Tel Aviv University		   Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport – Modi'in
Inter-City Service		   Towards: Modi'in Central
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Nahariya
Tel Aviv University		   Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Be'er Sheva
Inter-City Service		   Towards: Be'er Sheva Center
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Haifa Center HaShmona
Tel Aviv University		   Haifa - Tel Aviv - Jerusalem
Inter-City Service		   Towards: Jerusalem Malha
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Binyamina/Netanya
Tel Aviv University		   Binyamina/Netanya - Tel Aviv - Rehovot/Ashkelon
Suburban Service		   Towards: Rehovot/Ashkelon
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Netanya
Tel Aviv University		   Tel Aviv - Rishon LeZion
Suburban Service		   Towards: HaRishonim
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Hod Hasharon Sokolov
Tel Aviv University		   Hod HaSharon - Tel Aviv - Rishon LeZion - Ashkelon - Be'er Sheva
Suburban Service		   Towards: Be'er Sheva Center
Tel Aviv HaShalom
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/29/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.