Haifa East railway station was built in 1904 by the Ottoman authorities as the western terminus of their

Jezreel Valley railway The Jezreel Valley railway, or the Valley Train ( he, רַכֶּבֶת הָעֵמֶק, ''Rakevet HaEmek'' ; ar, خط سكة حديد حيفا – درعا, khaṭṭ sikkat ḥadīd Ḥayfa–Dar‘a) was a railroad that existed in Ottoman and ...

. In the 1920s, under the British Mandate,

Palestine Railways {{Infobox rail , railroad_name = Palestine Railway , logo_filename = , logo_size = , system_map = , map_caption = , map_size = , marks = , image = AwmB00283.Samakh.jpg , image_size ...

extended the Eastern Railway north to connect with the Jezreel Valley railway at Haifa station. At this time, Haifa was the only place in the world to have direct railway services to three continents:

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, Kantarah in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

Medina Medina,, ', "the radiant city"; or , ', (), "the city" officially Al Madinah Al Munawwarah (, , Turkish: Medine-i Münevvere) and also commonly simplified as Madīnah or Madinah (, ), is the Holiest sites in Islam, second-holiest city in Islam, ...

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

. To this day, the distances on the

Israel Railways Israel Railways Ltd. , dba Israel Railways ( he, רַכֶּבֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל, ''Rakevet Yisra'el''), is the state-owned principal railway company responsible for all inter-city, commuter, and freight rail transport in Israel. Isr ...

main line are measured from Haifa East station. As the first railway station in

Haifa Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...

, it was originally named just "Haifa Station", and changed its name in 1937 when the new Haifa Center railway station opened. Until July 1940, Haifa East railway station housed the head office of Palestine Railways; but in 1940, citing the unfavourable physical environment in the busy downtown and the physical vulnerability next to the

port of Haifa The Port of Haifa ( he, נמל חיפה) is the largest of Israel's three major international seaports, the others being the Port of Ashdod, and the Port of Eilat. It has a natural deep-water harbor, which operates all year long, and serves both pa ...

in time of war, the administration started moving its branches into Khoury House at the intersection of Nevi'im st. and Khoury st. During the

Battle of Haifa (1948) The Battle of Haifa, called by the Jewish forces Operation Bi'ur Hametz ( he, מבצע ביעור חמץ " Passover Cleaning"), was a Haganah operation carried out on 21–22 April 1948 and was a major event in the final stages of the civil w ...

, Khoury House was burnt down together with all records of Palestine Railways; due to this, the headquarters of the emerging

were established at Haifa Center railway station. The original station building at Haifa East was heavily damaged by an

Irgun Irgun • Etzel , image = Irgun.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = Irgun emblem. The map shows both Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan, which the Irgun claimed in its entirety for a future Jewish state. The acronym "Etzel" i ...

bombing on 20 September 1946,Arthur Kirby and the Last Years of Palestine Railways, 1945-1948. By Rabbi Dr. Walter Rothschild, Berlin.
/ref> and only a small part of it is preserved. Currently, it houses some

offices; the five-track former

engine shed The motive power depot (MPD) or locomotive depot, or traction maintenance depot (TMD), is the place where locomotives are usually housed, repaired and maintained when not being used. They were originally known as "running sheds", "engine shed ...

, situated across the tracks from the station building and built in c.1918,Relics of The Valley Railway in Israel
/ref> houses the

Israel Railway Museum Israel Railway Museum ( he, מוזיאון רכבת ישראל) is the national railway museum of Israel, located in Haifa. The railway museum is owned by Israel Railways and is located at the Haifa East Railway Station which nowadays no longer s ...

; and the station itself is used as a

marshalling yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English (Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English (Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ya ...

and a stabling point.

References

{{reflist

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

Railway stations opened in 1904 Defunct railway stations in Israel