Ramla railway station is a railway station in

Ramla Ramla or Ramle ( he, רַמְלָה, ''Ramlā''; ar, الرملة, ''ar-Ramleh'') is a city in the Central District of Israel. Today, Ramle is one of Israel's mixed cities, with both a significant Jewish and Arab populations. The city was f ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, on the

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

–

Beit Shemesh Beit Shemesh ( he, בֵּית שֶׁמֶשׁ ) is a city located approximately west of Jerusalem in Israel's Jerusalem District, with a population of in . History Tel Beit Shemesh The small archaeological tell northeast of the modern city wa ...

–

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

line. The station is located in the east of

. The station is also on a section shared with the

Be'er Sheva Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

–

line, which branches out in a southerly direction about 3 km east of Ramla.

History

Ramla Station was built as part of the

Jaffa–Jerusalem railway The Jaffa–Jerusalem railway (also J & J) is a railway that connected Jaffa and Jerusalem. The line was built in the Mutasarrifate of Jerusalem (Ottoman Syria) by the French company ''Société du Chemin de Fer Ottoman de Jaffa à Jérusalem et P ...

, 22.5 km to the southeast of the Jaffa railway station; the first service to Jaffa began in April 1891. The original Jaffa railway station closed in 1948, when the line's western terminus was changed to Tel Aviv's Beit Hadar station (also known as the Customs House station), thus making Ramla the oldest active railway station in

. During the unrest of the

1947–1948 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine The 1947–1948 civil war in Mandatory Palestine was the first phase of the 1947–1949 Palestine war. It broke out after the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution on 29 November 1947 recommending the adoption of the Pa ...

the original station building was bombed by the

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 ...

on 27 May 1947. In the 1950s a small concrete halt was built. On August 14, 1998, the station was closed since the section of line between Jerusalem and the

Beit Shemesh railway station Beit Shemesh railway station is an Israel Railways station in Beit Shemesh, Israel, on the Tel Aviv– Lod–Jerusalem line. The station is located near the northern industrial zone of Beit Shemesh. History Beit Shemesh Station was built under ...

ceased operating due to deteriorating track conditions. In 2001 it was decided to relocate the station to the west, closer to Ramla's city center and adjacent to the Ramla central bus station and

civic center A civic center or civic centre is a prominent land area within a community that is constructed to be its focal point or center. It usually contains one or more dominant public buildings, which may also include a government building. Recently, the ...

. The new Ramla station was opened on April 12, 2003, and service to Jerusalem resumed on April 9, 2005, the line having been completely renovated after being out of service for six years. As part of the double-tracking and upgrading project of the Lod–

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

main line, the size of the station was doubled in 2012. Also as part of the project, the railway's route in the area was improved and actually no longer passes next to the original 1891–1998 station location (which was located at ).

Ramla West railway station

When suburban service to the

Rehovot railway station Rehovot railway station ( he, תחנת הרכבת רחובות, ''Taḥanat HaRakevet Rehovot'') is an Israel Railways station located in the city of Rehovot. It serves the city, the Weizmann Institute of Science and the nearby science industries ...

, on the Lod–

Ashkelon Ashkelon or Ashqelon (; Hebrew: , , ; Philistine: ), also known as Ascalon (; Ancient Greek: , ; Arabic: , ), is a coastal city in the Southern District of Israel on the Mediterranean coast, south of Tel Aviv, and north of the border with ...

line commenced in 1990, a halt named Ramla West constructed on the line just south of the then-

level crossing A level crossing is an intersection where a railway line crosses a road, Trail, path, or (in rare situations) airport runway, at the same level, as opposed to the railway line crossing over or under using an Overpass#Railway, overpass ...

(now grade separation) with Road 44. However, due to its inconvenient location it was not popular and was closed after just few months.

Services

There is hourly train service in each direction to and from Tel Aviv and Beit Shemesh, and a half-hourly train service in each direction to Nahariya via Tel Aviv and Haifa and Beersheba via Kiryat Gat.

References

External links

Ramla Station on Israel railways website
{{Israel Railways Railway stations in Central District (Israel) Railway stations opened in 1891 Railway stations closed in 1998 Railway stations opened in 2003 Buildings and structures in Ramla