3AM, Israeli time. I was able to post successfully. Apologies.
CRRC sues Isreal government.
China sues Israeli gov't for denying light rail tender 'under US pressure' (msn.com)
From Steve Sattler:
Ticket inspectors. You’ve got to hand it to them…
What’s the difference between a teacher & a railway security guard? One trains the mind, the other minds the trains…
I miss the old days of railway when the engineer had plenty of esteem.
What do you call a train with bubble gum? a chew chew train
Jim had always wanted to run a train. It was his dream since he was a child. His mind was set and no other career moved him the way a train had. He did well in school, and when he was accepted to the local Railway school, he was stoked.4 years later, he had his first job of running the train, and he could not contain his excitement. He went all along the tracks, left and right, forward and back, until he hit something on the rail and the train flew off the tracks, causing a disaster.
Jim was sentenced to death, executed by an electric chair. When asked for a last meal, Jim simply replied: "I will have one banana." After finishing his banana, he was sent to the chair. However, it didn't work. The electric chair had no effect. Jim was set free by the police force, and got a job at another train station. He sped along the tracks, he simply could not contain his excitement! However, he was careless and crashed into another train.
Jim, imprisoned again, was sentenced to death, by the electric chair. "What would you like for your final meal?" the chief of police asked. Jim simply replied "I would like two bananas." He finished his bananas and was again strapped to the electric chair, only to have it fail again. Jim was set free again.
Another train station had a job opening and Jim applied again. He went all over the tracks, left and right, until he ran over a man. Sent to death again, Jim had one request for his final meal. "I will have three bananas." After consuming his bananas, he was sent to the electric chair. He survived the biggest shock of his life.
"I don't get it," the chief of police said. "This electric chair is our best piece of machinery, yet you've survived three times.
How do you do it? Is it the bananas you keep eating?"
"Oh, it's nothing," said Jim. "I'm just a bad conductor."
Moshe is waiting on the platform at the station. He notices a Jewish man standing nearby and asks him for the time. But the man ignores him. Moshe then asks him again, and the man responds in the same way. Frustrated, Moshe asks "Excuse me, but I've asked you for the time twice, why are you ignoring me"
Suddenly, the man looks up and says, "We're both waiting for the train, if I answer you, then when we get on the train you will come and sit next to me, we will probably start talking, and I may invite you to my house for Shabbat, there you will meet my daughter, you will probably like her, you may eventually want to marry her, and to be honest with you, WHY WOULD I WANT A SON IN LAW WHO CAN'T AFFORD A WATCH?"
Sadie Cohen lived in an integrated neighborhood on Long Island. A neighbor, a very friendly and generous black woman, stopped by one Saturday and offered, "Mrs Cohen, I have to go to NYC this afternoon to meet my daughter. Can I get you anything?"
Mrs. Cohen thanked her and counter-offered, "Listen, I have a commuter's ticket for the train. Why don't you use my ticket, and you'll bring it back tonight. After all, it's paid for. Why should you pay extra?"
The neighbor thanked her and with the ticket in hand, made her way to the train station. When the train arrived, she boarded, and as the conductor walked through, he happened to glance at the ticket, noticing the name "Sadie Cohen.".
The conductor asked, "Excuse me, madam, are you Sadie Cohen , the person whose name appears on this ticket?"
The woman smiled sweetly and nodded her head in the affirmative.
More than a little suspicious, the conductor asked, "Would you let me compare signatures? Would you mind signing your name?"
The black lady turned indignantly to the conductor and snapped, "Man, are you crazy? You want me to write on Shabbos?
Sadie sits down next to an attractive man on the train and says, "You look just like my fourth husband".
The man replies, "Your fourth husband? So how many times have you been married, lady?"
"Three," replies Sadie.
In an all-Jewish school, a Russian man decided to disrupt a math class. He stormed in and cried, "You Jews think you're so smart, try and answer this!
There are seven trains going all around the country with sixteen cars on each train. There are thirty-three people on each car. How old am I?"
No one responds. A boy in the back stands up and says, "48."
Amazed, the Russian says "Yes! How did you know?"
The boy replied, "There's a man in our village that's twenty-four
and is only half meshuga."
After months of negotiation with the authorities, a Talmudist from Odessa was finally granted permission to visit Moscow . He boarded the train and found an empty seat. At the next stop, a young man got on and sat next to him. The scholar looked at the young man and he thought:
This fellow doesn't look like a peasant, so if he is no peasant he probably comes from this district. If he comes from this district, then he must be Jewish because this is, after all, a Jewish district.
But on the other hand, since he is a Jew, where could he be going? I'm the only Jew in our district who has permission to travel to Moscow . Ahh, wait! Just outside Moscow there is a little village called Samvet, and Jews don't need special permission to go to Samvet. But why would he travel to Samvet? He is surely going to visit one of the Jewish families there. But how many Jewish families are there in Samvet? Aha, only two - the Bernsteins and the Steinbergs. But since the Bernsteins are a terrible family, such a nice looking fellow like him, he must be visiting the Steinbergs.
But why is he going to the Steinbergs in Samvet? The Steinbergs have only daughters, two of them, so maybe he's, their son-in-law. But if he is, then which daughter did he marry? They say that Sarah Steinberg married a nice lawyer from Budapest, and Esther married a businessman from Zhitomer, so it must be Sarah's husband. Which means that his name is Alexander Cohen, if I'm not mistaken.
But if he came from Budapest, with all the anti-Semitism they have there, he must have changed his name. What's the Hungarian equivalent of Cohen? It is Kovacs. But since they allowed him to change his name, he must have special status to change it. What could it be? Must be a doctorate from the University. Nothing less would do.
At this point, therefore, the scholar of Talmud turns to the young man and says, "Excuse me. Do you mind if I open the window, Dr. Kovacs?"
"Not at all," answered the startled co-passenger. "But how is it that you know my name?"
"Ahhh," replied the Talmudist, "It was obvious."
4... the Ministry of Transport has just released a new master plan to consolidate the public transport for the Sharon and the Netanya region.
7 new public transport lines will be built.
The Greenline from TLV will run further North to Netanya.
The North TLV Metro will have new stations for Kfar Saba, Ra'anana, and Hod HaSharon.
New local light-rail lines that inter-connect and blend Hadera, Caesaria, Pardas Channa, and Kfar Vitkin into one transport block.
Major roads in this coastal region will all get extra lanes.
By 2050 - the Ministry expects all this project to be functioning.
5... the new light-rail tram on the Jaffa section is running [on and off] for testing.
Happy Yom HaAtzamuth to all,
Keep well,
Steve
Major update of Tel Aviv Savidor station. Dave can you give us how this station compliments the other stations? will expansion change any metrics?
Upgrade of Tel Aviv Savidor station to be completed by 2025 - International Railway Journal (railjournal.com)
This "Central Station" wascthe sothern terminous of the costal Tel Aviv -Haifa line constructed between Tel Aviv Arlossorov Street and Benyamini in the 1950's. at Beyamina joining the British Mandate line from Lod, through Petah Tikva and Hadera, inland. So, when I first used it in 1960, it wads still a simple 4-track, two-platform, stub-end terminal. Trains to the south and via the old line to Jersalem used a much older station in the Jaffa section of Tel Aviv. The new T. A. City Hall was constructed on Arlossorov, east of the then new station, and now the area has plenty of high-rise ffice buildings.
In the 1960s the Ayalon (highway) Connector was constructed. This was first a 4-lane divided expressway, intended to take north-soth through traffic off T. A. streets. The highway planners were specific in coipying what Chicago was doing by leaving median-strip room for a rapid transit line. But Israel Railway's management argued for use of that median strip to tie together their passenger operations and make the usefulness of the railway for commuters a reality.
The original station buildingv was retained. The four stub tracks became storage tracks. The concourse was extended as a bridge across the new highway, with the median at that location greatly expanded, and at first for tracks and two island platforms, later six and three, between the southbound and northbond lanes.
I'll post more when I learn more about the new expansion.
South of "Central" in Tel Aviv are Shalom and Hagana, north of Cental is T. A. North - T. A. U. I've used the freqent service between these stations for local travel. Nearly all trains have paired terminasls south and north of T. A, but trains that don't use Central as a terminal.
All these stations are in the Ayalon median.
A view of the Ayalon some 25 years age with a DMU Danish IC-3 train:
Looking south from Shalom station. recent
North Tel Aviv - Tel Aviv University, again 25 years ago, shortly after opening:
Shalom Station, looking south:
Two at Central Station looking north:
At Hagana Station, looking south:
The SHalom Station has unsual architecture. The road is an access rload to the Ayalon.
I hope to add to this:
New plans for major expansions. Suspect ones out of contry are iffy depending on politics.
Israel plans to expand rail network - International Railway Journal (railjournal.com)
ISRAEL: The Ministry of Transport & Road Safety and
project
promoter Trans Israel, 26 February, selected Group Three
consisting of
Alstom, Electra and Minrav for the PPP contract for finance,
design and construction of the railway and rolling stock
(about 30 LRVs) of the Haifa - Nazarith Light Rail line
and operate it for 25 years.
The 41 km inter-urban tram-train style line will run from
Haifa to Nof HaGalil and Nazareth, with 20 stations,
most park-and-ride sites. Rush-hour headways every
4 minutes, Top speed 100 km/h. 1500V DC electrification,
overhead wire. About 100 000 passengrs/day estimated.
Contract also includes 25 years of operation and maintenance.
Other bidders: Shapir (Israel) with CAF (Spain); Comsa (Spain)
with Dan Bus
Denya Cebus (Israel); and Shikun & Binui with Egged (Israel).
The civil works contracts were awarded in 2020 through
a separate procurement process.
Main works are expected to start next year and take four years.
TThe number of people in the Nazareth area is expected to grow by
40% by 2040, and Shfaram and Kiryat Ata by 70%, with an expected
60% increase in employment.
The project ‘is great news for residents of the north, signalling renewal and growth, of connecting the periphery to the centre, of freedom of movement and choice in employment’, said Minister of Transport & Road Safety Miri Regev.
Trans-Israel CEO Dan Shenbach said ‘the project is of tremendous importance to the economic resilience of the state of Israel. It will serve as a significant growth engine for the economy in general, and the north in particular.’
On Mar 1, 2024, at 9:08 PM, subwayal@aol.com wrote:
daveklepperAt Hagana Station
Did you mispell this deliberately or were you avoiding someone asking a question? Just curious on this (heh).
On a serious note, I am curious why they are not naming the rail stations after people in Isreal which seems to be the new trend in the United States now.
My editing did not change the spelling from the report. Or at least, not deliberately.
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