Israel Railways Reportedly Logs About 100,000 Journeys on New Eastern Line

Israel Railways has recorded approximately 100,000 passenger journeys on the new Eastern Railway since its northern section opened in June, according to reports on November 9 citing the railway operator. Tira–Kochav Yair was the busiest station in the reported figures, with about 44,000 passengers. The operator was also reported to be preparing an upgraded timetable for the coming weeks, with freight trains moving from the coastal route to the Eastern Railway and electric passenger trains running more frequently. Construction is continuing on the southern section alongside Route 6, according to the report. The corridor is intended to connect Hadera and Lod while bypassing the Tel Aviv bottleneck. Shoham–Te’ufa and Elad are among the stations identified for the southern section. The Eastern Railway forms part of a wider expansion that also includes Railway 431 and a fourth track through the Ayalon corridor. The report attributes to Israel Railways an expectation that completion of those projects together will increase the national supply of train journeys by approximately 30%. Israel’s railway network carried about 72 million passenger journeys in 2025, according to the same account.