Tel Aviv South railway station

Coordinates: 32°02′43″N 34°47′12″E / 32.0452°N 34.7866°E / 32.0452; 34.7866
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Tel Aviv South railway station
תחנת הרכבת תל אביב דרום
Tel Aviv South 1970 site photographed in 2008
General information
LocationDavid Remez Street, Tel Aviv
Coordinates32°02′43″N 34°47′12″E / 32.0452°N 34.7866°E / 32.0452; 34.7866
Owned byIsrael Railways
Line(s)Tel Aviv–Jerusalem
Platforms2
Tracks4
History
Opened1920
ClosedFirst location 1970, Second 1993
Rebuilt1970
Previous namesCustom House Station
Beit Hadar Station
Services
16 daily in both directions (in 1970) to:
Jerusalem railway station
Be'er Sheva North railway station

Tel Aviv South railway station was the name of two former railway stations in Tel Aviv, Israel, which were situated in two different locations. The original station opened in 1920, then in 1970 it was relocated 2.5 km south-east, and it finally closed to passengers in 1993.

Located east of the historical 1970 station location is the active Tel Aviv South

Highway 1, south of Tel Aviv HaHagana Station
and the Kibbutz Galuyot Interchange where Highway 1 merges into the Ayalon Highway.

History

Original location

The station, originally named Tel Aviv Custom House Station, was built in 1920 by the British Mandate Authorities. Its first location (32°03′49″N 34°46′37″E / 32.0636°N 34.7770°E / 32.0636; 34.7770 (Tel Aviv South railway station (original location))), at a distance of approximately 2.5 km from the Jaffa railway station, was facing the short Mikveh Israel Street, where the railway had followed a narrow curve between Yehuda Halevi Street and Railway (HaRakevet) Street.[1]

The construction of the station and its adjacent

standard gauge, rather than the original 1.05 metre gauge. This was one of the first civil engineering works the British carried out, once their governing mandate was established by the League of Nations. The new station and customs house were built to replace the existing Jaffa Customs House, which was old, congested and could not cope with the growing level of cargo traffic at that time.[1]

In 1935, an office building named Beit Hadar (in Hebrew, the "Citrus House"), the first steel frame structure in Tel Aviv, was built next to the station by architect Carl Rubin. From that point on the station was also known as Beit Hadar Station.[2]

During the

1947–1949 Palestine war service on the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway was suspended and only resumed on August 7, 1949 following the signing of the 1949 Armistice Agreement with Jordan.[1]

On September 20, 1949, once the Tel Aviv North railway station was opened (which was later renamed

Bnei Brak railway station), the station was renamed Tel Aviv South railway station. At this time it also became a terminus, as the section of track to Jaffa railway station was lifted and the Jaffa station closed.[1]

In 2023, the Allenby station of the Red Line (Tel Aviv Light Rail) opened at the location of the Beit Hadar station.

Relocation

By the 1960s, the movement of trains on the

central reservation
of HaRakevet Street; the station name can still be clearly seen on the building, although the structure itself is now abandoned and neglected.

Although the new station was quite spacious, with a large indoor passenger concourse, 4 platforms and additional sidings, it had only 16 rail services per day when it opened (8 in each direction).[3] The station was poorly used due to its remote location far away from the city centre (unlike its previous location which was much more centrally located). This contributed to a significant drop in passenger traffic and in 1979 the passenger rail service to Be’er Sheva was halted and the service to Jerusalem reduced to one train a day in each direction. However, in 1990, new suburban service to Rehovot railway station was introduced.

Tel Aviv – Jerusalem line
to
Bnei Brak & Herzliya
Tel Aviv Savidor Central
Tel Aviv HaShalom
Tel Aviv HaHagana
to
Beersheba
Kfar Chabad
Lod Ganei Aviv
Lod
to
Beersheba
Ramla
to
Beersheba
Beit Shemesh
Jerusalem Biblical Zoo
Jerusalem–Malha
Jerusalem–Khan

Closure

In 1993, as part of the

Ayalon Highway, including the nearby HaHagana and Holon Junction
railway stations.

Today the station is used as a training site for

stabling point
.

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rosenblum, Irit (March 5, 2009), "A walk from the Ottoman to the British stations in Tel Aviv", Haaretz, retrieved November 7, 2009
  2. ^ "The Streets of Tel Aviv: The New City and Its Setting". Stanford University Library. Archived from the original on June 22, 2010. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
  3. ^ Rosenblum, Keshet (September 12, 2012). "How Tel Aviv's Darom station went off the rails". Haaretz. Retrieved September 15, 2012.