Palestine Railways Current Status

Palestine Railways Current Status

The former Palestine Railways are currently in three parts:

• Egypt: slowly being rebuilt by Egyptian National Railways.
• Palestine: in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, disused and mostly dismantled.
• Israel: operated by Israel Railways and being expanded.
• The HBT Railway is mostly dismantled except for the short section between Haifa and Nahariya (nearby Az-Zeeb). This section has also been double tracked by Israel Railways. As the area north of Nahariya the HBT railway passes through is now a national park, Israel Railway's tenative plans for a new railway to Lebanon foresee a new railway to the east of the HBT railway, branching off the Acre-Karmiel railway at Ahihud.

Sinai Railway Restoration

Israel dismantled much of the railway in Sinai in the period between the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War, re-using most of the materials to build the Bar Lev Line fortifications along the Suez Canal. In the 21st century, starting from Egypt in the south, Egyptian National Railways opened the El Ferdan swing bridge on 14 November 2001, replacing a bridge destroyed in the Six-Day War in 1967.

From El Ferdan, work then started on slowly rebuilding the former route to El Arish, with the possibility of renewing the rest of the route to Gaza. The project includes a branch line to Port Said Container Terminal. In December 2008 Google Earth showed progress with stations as far as Bir el-'Abd while some remnants of the old trackbed towards El Arish and Rafah are still visible. Later in the first decade of the 2000s, the rebuilt line in the Sinai became neglected, disused and overrun by sandstorms in many locations.

In July 2012, the Egyptian transportation ministry declared its intention to restore the line to Bir el-'Abd. However, this was not carried out and a few years later the construction of the New Suez Canal had since completely disconnected the Sinai from the rest of Egypt’s rail network until a new rail bridge is built somewhere across the canal.

Palestine Railways Overview

Palestine Railways Headquarters: Khoury House, Haifa
Palestine Railways Locale: British Mandate of Palestine, northern coast of Sinai
Palestine Railways Dates of Operation: 1920–1948
Palestine Railways Predecessor: Sinai Military Railway, Jaffa–Jerusalem railway, Jezreel Valley and Acre branches of Hejaz railway
Palestine Railways Successor Israel: Israel Railways
Palestine Railways Egypt: Egyptian National Railways
Palestine Railways Track Gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge,
and 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in)
Palestine Railways Previous Gauge: 1,050 mm (3 ft 5+11⁄32 in)