Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station

Tel Aviv Savidor Central Station תחנת תל אביב סבידור מרכז تل أبيب مركز سافيدور
Israel Railways
Location	10 Al Parashat Drakhim St., Tel Aviv
Coordinates
Platforms	3
Tracks	6
Construction
Parking	3000 payable spaces
Bicycle facilities	50 spaces
Disabled access	Yes
History
Opened	November 3, 1954
Rebuilt	1988
Traffic
Passengers (2010)	9,722,274

Railways in the Tel Aviv area

Legend Inter-city line to Nahariya via Haifa Binyamina Caesaria-Pardes Hanna Hadera West Hod Hasharon Sokolov Netanya Kfar Saba Nordau Rosh HaAyin North Beit Yehoshua Petah Tikva Sgula Petah Tikva Kiryat Arye Herzliya Bnei Brak Tel Aviv University TA Savidor Central Tel Aviv HaShalom Tel Aviv HaHagana Holon Junction Kfar Chabad Holon-Wolfson Ben Gurion Airport Lod Ganei Aviv Bat Yam-Yoseftal Lod Bat Yam-Komemiyut Be'er Ya'akov Rishon LeZion Moshe Dayan HaRishonim Yavne West Ramla Rehovot Pa'atei Modi'in Yavne East Modi'in Central Ashdod Ad Halom Inter-city line to Jerusalem Ashkelon Inter-city lines to Be'er Sheva

Tel Aviv Savidor Central Railway Station (Hebrew: תֵּל אָבִיב סָבִידוֹר מֶרְכָּז‎, Tel Aviv Savidor Merkaz, Arabic: تل أبيب مركز سافيدور‎‎) is the main central train station of Tel Aviv. It is one of the main railway hubs of Israel, located on the eastern side of Tel Aviv, at the border between Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan. The station was opened to the public in November 1954 under the name Tel Aviv Central.

The station serves most rail lines in Israel and has 6 passenger platforms—more than any other station in Israel—and is also the busiest in terms of passenger movements, serving a daily average of 70,073 passengers in December 2014. Despite not being a terminus for most lines, it serves as a terminal for travel to all parts of Israel. The station is located next to the 2000 Terminal in the west and the Diamond Exchange District (of Ramat Gan) in the east. Like all railway stations in Tel Aviv, the tracks lie between the southbound and northbound lanes of Ayalon Highway. The tracks are connected by escalators, stairways and elevators for disabled persons to a bridge which connects them with the terminal building (on the Tel Aviv side) and the Diamond Exchange District (on the Ramat Gan side). By October 2021, an underground station of the future Red Line light rail will be built at the site.

It is named after Menachem Savidor, Israel Railways' chairman between 1954–1964 and later the speaker of the Knesset.

History

Entrance

The railway station was originally the terminus of the Coastal railway line, which opened on November 3, 1954 and reached what was then the northern fringe of Tel Aviv. For the next four decades, it handled only trains to the north, therefore it was colloquially known as the Tel Aviv North station. This name is misleading, though, because "Tel Aviv North" was a previous name of the Bnei Brak Railway Station. Railway traffic to the south of the city was provided through Tel Aviv South Railway Station, which was not connected with Tel Aviv Center.

Until 1980 the head office of Israel Railways was located at the Haifa Central Station. Tzvi Tzafriry, the general manager of Israel Railways, decided to move the head office to Tel Aviv Savidor.

In its initial configuration the station's platforms were located directly north of the terminal building, to the west of their present location. In 1988, when the Ayalon railway was continued further south, the station's platforms were moved to their current location, and a pedestrian bridge was built to connect them to the terminal building. The station with its relocated tracks was opened to the public on January 10, 1988, and the official opening took place on May 3 of the same year. In 1993 the station ceased being a terminal station when the Ayalon section of the coastal railway was extended to link with the Jaffa–Jerusalem railway in southern Tel Aviv. At that point, the little-used Tel Aviv South station (which unlike Tel Aviv Central was not located on the Ayalon railway itself) was closed for passengers and services operating to it were routed to the more conveniently-located Tel Aviv Central station instead. Between the closing of the Tel Aviv South Railway Station and the opening of Tel Aviv HaShalom Railway Station in 1996, Tel Aviv Central was the only active passenger railway station in Tel Aviv. Nowadays, Tel Aviv Central is one of four active passenger railway stations located within Tel Aviv's municipal borders.

In May 2009 Yediot Aharonot said that Israel Railways was planning to move the head office to Lod. In response the railway company said this was necessary to centralize the various offices around Israel, to use a more central location in the country and to have more inexpensive land. The company said this was also central to a major railway station.

External links

• Tel Aviv Savidor Central at the Israel Railways website

Preceding station		Israel Railways		Following station
Towards: Nahariya Tel Aviv University		Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Ben-Gurion Airport – Modi'in Inter-City Service		Towards: Modi'in Central Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Nahariya Tel Aviv University		Nahariya – Haifa – Tel Aviv – Be'er Sheva Inter-City Service		Towards: Be'er Sheva Center Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Haifa Center HaShmona Tel Aviv University		Haifa - Tel Aviv - Jerusalem Inter-City Service		Towards: Jerusalem Malha Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Binyamina/Netanya Tel Aviv University		Binyamina/Netanya - Tel Aviv - Rehovot/Ashkelon Suburban Service		Towards: Rehovot/Ashkelon Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Netanya Tel Aviv University		Tel Aviv - Rishon LeZion Suburban Service		Towards: HaRishonim Tel Aviv HaShalom
Towards: Hod Hasharon Sokolov Tel Aviv University		Hod HaSharon - Tel Aviv - Rishon LeZion - Ashkelon - Be'er Sheva Suburban Service		Towards: Be'er Sheva Center Tel Aviv HaShalom