ISRAEL: The Electra Infrastructures consortium has been selected as preferred bidder to undertake civil engineering works on the planned 30 km line between Rishon Le-Ziyyon and Modi’in, Israel Railways announced on September 10.
The electrified east-west line will largely follow the median of Highway 431, forming the southern part of a proposed 100 km rail loop around the Greater Tel Aviv Area; the Highway 531 line forming the northern section through Ra’anana was opened in July 2018.
Starting from Rishon Le-Ziyyon Moshe Dayan station on ISR’s Western Negev Line, the so-called 431 line will run via Rishon Le-Ziyyon Harishonim and Ramla South to Modi’in, with a junction at Anava connecting to the new A1 line to Jerusalem Navon. The alignment will have 6 km of elevated structures, including a 3·5 km viaduct which will be the longest railway bridge in Israel; this will take the line over Kiryat – Rishon Le-Ziyyon road interchange to reach the existing station at Rishon Le-Ziyyon Harishonim. There will also be three short tunnels, of which the longest will be 450 m. Two new stations are envisaged, at Rishon Le-Ziyyon Rhombus and Ramla South.
Total cost of the project is put at around US$900m, of which the Electra Infrastructures contact is valued at US$112m.
Expected to open in 2026, the line would initially be served by two trains/h in each direction, increasing to four once extra capacity has been provided at Modi’in and Jerusalem Navon stations. The line is expected to carry around 15 000 passengers/ day. Journey times from Rishon Le-Ziyyon Moshe Dayan to Modi’in would be cut from 60 min to 30 min, while the time to Jerusalem Navon would fall from 80 min to 45 min.
So.....when the NEC gets true HSR, a bypass of the Big Appel might put tracks back on the Poughkeepsie Hudson River Bridge.
NEC traffic that does not get off in the NYC area is miniscule as I recall. If a bypass was ever to be built, they missed their chance when the new Tappen Zee bridge was built without rail. Poughkeepsie is too circuitous.
The Poughkeepsie line, aside from the bridge, was a rather hilly operation with a few grades that required larger power in the steam era. Hardly suitable for high speed rail.
Also, I have heard that after the fire on the Poughkeepsie Bridge in 1974, the temper of the metal was affected so it would not be safe for trains. My late ex-father in law was the fire chief of the Town of Poughkeepsie and was involved in that fire. He also said that he rode over it on a trooop train in WW2 and you could feel the bridge sway. Also, the tracks on either side of it are long gone, I recall when they were lifted in the early 1980s. On the east side the tracks were pulled out as far as Hopewell Junction and on the west side, I'm not so sure but probably to Maybrook Yard which is now the site of a truck warehouse.
54light15On the east side the tracks were pulled out as far as Hopewell Junction...
And apparently Metro North has given up on the line beyond Hopewell Jc, and are asking for proposals.
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