Ashkelon–Beersheba Railway

The railway links the Ashkelon railway with Goral Junction and the existing Beersheba railway, integrating the route through Sderot, Netivot, and Ofakim into the national rail network.[1] At the beginning of through passenger operations in September 2015, its listed stops were Ashkelon, Sderot, Netivot, Beersheba North/University, and Beersheba, with Ofakim still awaiting its station opening.[3]

Netivot lies about 15 kilometers east of Gaza and south of Sderot, while Ofakim station was described during construction as roughly halfway between Netivot and Beersheba.[6] Planning reports in 2011 and February 2015 described a route approximately 60 kilometers long, whereas the September 2015 launch report described a 70-kilometer double-track railway.[6][3]

The line was intended to improve travel from the western Negev towns to Beersheba and Tel Aviv and to broaden residents’ employment opportunities.[3] Its relationship to nearby Gaza also shaped its infrastructure: Sderot station was armored, and railway cars serving Sderot and Netivot were specially reinforced against rockets.[7][8]

Railway construction reaching Beersheba preceded the modern Ashkelon connection: the Ottoman government extended a railway from Afuleh through Nablus, Tulkarm, and Ramleh to Beersheba.[9] This followed the opening in 1906 of the Hejaz Railway spur from Deraa toward the Mediterranean through Semakh, Beisan, Afuleh, Haifa, and Acre.[9]

During World War I, a branch of the Jerusalem–Jaffa railway was built through Beersheba and continued southwest beyond the town; it was subsequently dismantled after Beersheba’s strategic role ended.[10] The British dismantled the Tulkarm–Ramleh–Beersheba section, but the Israeli government later reused the Ramleh–Beersheba embankment for a broad-gauge extension to Beersheba.[9] During Israel’s development in 1954–1959, the railway was extended to Beersheba and rolling stock was dieselized.[11]

Beersheba’s other railway connections linked it northward with Kiryat Gat and Lydda and southward with Dimona and the Oron and Efa-Efeh mines.[12] The city was also described as a communications hub served by the Lydda–Kiryat Gat and Dimona–Oron railway lines.[10] Freight services in southern Israel served Ashkelon, Beersheba, Ashdod, and mineral quarries south of Dimona, although these destinations were not identified as stops on a single line.[13]

Ashkelon station was inaugurated in April 2005, when the proposed extension through Sderot, Netivot, and Ofakim to Beersheba was presented as a national project supporting development in southern Israel.[14] At that stage, the connection to Beersheba remained a future plan.[14]

Construction was suspended amid disagreement between the Transport and Finance ministries over whether the railway should have one track or two.[15] In 2009, the ministries agreed to construct one track while providing infrastructure for a possible second track, allowing work to resume; the estimated total project cost was then NIS 2 billion.[15] Tenders that year covered earthworks on a 20-kilometer section between Kibbutz Yad Mordechai and Netivot and bridges over Nahal Shikma and Nahal Bohu.[15] These works were estimated to cost NIS 400–500 million and take 24–36 months, with Waxman Govrin Engineering managing the project.[15]

At the April 2011 cornerstone ceremony for Netivot station, the planned route included stops at Netivot, Ofakim, and Sderot, with operations expected to begin in 2015.[16] The projected journey between Ashkelon and Beersheba was under 50 minutes.[16] Another 2011 project description specified a roughly 60-kilometer double-track railway costing an estimated NIS 2.1 billion, with a forecast capacity of four passenger trains per hour in each direction.[2]

The 2011 engineering description listed 15 railway bridges, three road bridges, four grade separations, 11 agricultural crossings, and 48 water crossings.[2] At Netivot station’s inauguration in 2015, the project estimate stood at NIS 2.2 billion, and its infrastructure inventory included 15 railway bridges, three road bridges, four elevated sections, 11 agricultural crossings, and 48 water-infrastructure crossings.[6]

In August 2015, completion of the final section between Ashkelon and Beersheba connected the route to Goral Junction and the existing Beersheba railway.[1] The announced timetable that month anticipated service beginning in September and Ofakim station opening at the end of the year.[17]

Sderot station opened to the public at 4 p.m. on December 24, 2013, following a launch ceremony attended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other government officials.[7] It extended the service that had previously run from Tel Aviv through Rishon Lezion, Yavne West, Ashdod, and Ashkelon.[7] The journey from Sderot to Tel Aviv was reported to take slightly more than an hour, and the transport minister identified the armored station as Israel’s first of its kind.[7]

Netivot station began passenger service on February 15, 2015, becoming the southern terminus of a service toward Tel Aviv through Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Yavne, Rishon LeZion, Bat Yam, and Holon.[8] The initial weekday timetable provided 20 trains in each direction, with a Tel Aviv–Netivot journey of just over an hour.[8] Construction continued southward toward Ofakim and Beersheba, while Ofakim station was then expected to be completed by the end of 2015.[6][8]

Through passenger service between Ashkelon and Beersheba began on the night of September 19, 2015, under the name Negev Railway.[3] The reported end-to-end journey took about 50 minutes, and approximately 25 trains in each direction were planned daily.[3] Ofakim station was not yet open, its construction having been delayed following Operation Protective Edge.[3] It was inaugurated in January 2016, becoming the last of the line’s new stations to open after Sderot and Netivot.[4]

At the railway’s 2015 launch, residents of Sderot, Netivot, Ofakim, and surrounding communities were offered 50-percent train-ticket discounts through the end of 2017.[3] Residents using the new stations were also offered three months of free travel.[3] The stated objectives were to encourage settlement and increase the number of residents and businesses in the Negev towns, alongside improving access to employment in Beersheba and Tel Aviv.[3]

The project’s anticipated benefits extended beyond passenger journeys: its development plans included an expectation that expanded rail service would support regional infrastructure development.[6] Around Netivot, later urban construction expanded from the city center toward the railway after the alignment had been placed farther from the center on cost grounds.[18]

During rocket fire on May 4–5, 2019, service on the Ashkelon–Beersheba line and at Netivot, Sderot, and Ofakim stations was temporarily closed following a situation assessment.[5] Rail infrastructure was also damaged in Beersheba, and service between Kiryat Gat and Beersheba was separately suspended temporarily.[5]

In May 2023, service between Netivot and Ashkelon was suspended on security-force instructions, and Sderot station closed until further notice.[19] Trains continued operating between Netivot and Beersheba and from Ashkelon northward.[19]

Sderot station reopened in March 2024 after repairs to rocket-damaged infrastructure, but trains ran south toward Beersheba via Ofakim rather than resuming the normal route north to Ashkelon.[20] The announced timetable provided hourly service through Sderot between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday.[20] Passengers traveling farther north had to change trains in Beersheba because the Sderot–Ashkelon section remained out of operation.[20]

The Sderot–Ashkelon section resumed operations on February 2, 2025, for the first time since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.[21] With Defense Ministry approval, trains were scheduled to run Sunday through Thursday from 5 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.[21] Preparations by the IDF included new technologies, physical defenses, and surveillance capabilities, following delays associated with rocket damage.[21]

Reports published on September 17, 2025, gave different planned start dates for electric service on the western Negev route. TheMarker said electric trains between Ashkelon and Ofakim, through Sderot and Netivot, were scheduled to begin on September 26, while Calcalist gave a September 29 start date.[22][23] The Ofakim–Beersheba section had not yet been electrified, so the announced service plans required passengers traveling between Beersheba and the western Negev stations to change trains at Ofakim.[22][23]

The planned electric-service timetable provided an hourly route from Ofakim through Netivot, Sderot, and Ashkelon to stations northward as far as Herzliya, alongside a separate hourly Beersheba–Ofakim service.[23] Planned travel times from Tel Aviv were 53 minutes to Sderot, 63 minutes to Netivot, and 70 minutes to Ofakim.[23] The announced schedule also extended weekday service to midnight and restored Friday and Saturday-night service.[23]

Netivot’s alignment was disputed during planning, with alternatives placing the railway either close to the city center or farther away; the more distant alignment was ultimately selected on cost grounds.[18] The earlier interministerial dispute over single- or double-track construction also interrupted work before the 2009 agreement allowed construction to resume.[15]

A later protection plan proposed a two-part cement wall along vulnerable portions of the Ashkelon–Sderot section, with an estimated cost of NIS 40 million and Planning Authority authorization for the Defense Ministry.[21] The plan proceeded despite opposition from Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who characterized the investment as meaning “defeat in the war” in Gaza.[21]