Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station

Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station ( _he. תחנת הרכבת קרית מוצקין, "Takhanat HaRakevet Kiryat Motzkin") is an Israel Railways passenger station serving the city of Kiryat Motzkin and the surrounding Kerayot region.

Location

The station is situated on the North-South coastal line. The station is located on Issakhar Street ( _he. רחוב יששכר, "Rekhov Yissakhar") in the western part of the city, on the municipal border with Haifa's neighborhood of Kiryat Shmuel. The station is one of two railway stations serving Haifa's northern suburbs – the Kerayot (the other being Kiryat Haim Railway Station), although it is slightly larger in terms of passenger numbers and trains serving it.

History

The present-day station stands on the spot of a halt that existed as early as 1937 on the Beirut – Cairo railway, constructed by the British during their Mandate for Palestine. This halt was Kiryat Motzkin's only means of transport to and from the surrounding areas, especially the city of Haifa.

The station was reconstructed in the early 1990s according to the present passenger station format of Israel Railways. In the late 1990s a tunnel was constructed just north of the station, replacing the dangerous level crossing that existed in its place.

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict train service to the station was suspended after a Hezbollah Katyusha rocket hit a train depot in Haifa on July 16, 2006, killing eight Israel Railways workers. It was restored 29 days later, on August 14, two days after the ceasefire went into effect.

Design

The station consists of two side platforms with two parallel rail tracks running between them. The small station building is located on the east platform (Kiryat Motzkin exit) as well as an exit on the west side (Kiryat Shmuel exit). A pedestrian tunnel connects the two platforms beneath the tracks.

Platform 1 (the eastern one) is used by southbound trains while platform 2 (the western one) by northbound trains.

Train service

Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station is a station on both the main north-south coastal line of Israel Railways (Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport – Lod – Be'er Sheva Inter-City service) and the suburban line serving Haifa's northern suburbs – the Kerayot (Haifa - Kiryat Motzkin suburban service). The station is situated between Akko (Acre) Railway Station to the north and Kiryat Haim Railway Station to the south.

The northern double-track section of the coastal railway main line terminates in Kiryat Motzkin. However, work is underway to extend the double track portion to Akko (and later to Nahariya, when citizen objections to the double tracking project are resolved).

Timetable highlights:

*Inter-City service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 36 southbound and 35 northbound trains. First train departs at 01:18 and last train arrives at 01:15.
**On Fridays and holiday eves the station is served by 22 southbound and 22 northbound trains. First train departs at 01:18 and last train arrives at 15:18.
**On Saturdays and holiday the station is served by 6 southbound and 5 northbound trains. First train departs at 19:04 and last train arrives at 22:56.

*Suburban service:
**On weekdays the station is served by 14 southbound and 13 northbound suburban trains to and from Haifa. First train departs at 06:11 and last train arrives at 18:20.
**On Fridays and holiday eves the station is served by 1 northbound train.

Public transport connections

Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station is located about a kilometer to the west of the main highway ( bus lines have a stop on the street outside the station, both running at about 20 minute intervals:
*52/52A: Haifa – Kiryat Motzkin.
*53: Kiryat Haim – Kiryat Yam.

In addition, Sherut (share taxi) line 3 (circular inside the Kerayot) stops at the station.

Facilities

*Payphone
*Ticket cashier
*Ticket machine
*Buffet
*Parking lot
*Toilet

External links

* [http://www.israrail.org.il/english/index.html Israel Railways website]
* [http://www.railnewsil.com/english/index.html RailnewsIL]

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