Kfar Chabad Railway Station

Kfar Chabad station stands at the entrance to Tzafria, a moshav between Beit Dagan and Ben Gurion Airport. Highway 1 passes nearby, and the area is also close to Highways 40, 4, 6, and 431.[1]

A 2014 report described services from the station to Beersheba, Nahariya, and Tel Aviv, with the Tel Aviv journey taking approximately 12 minutes.[1] A separate 2016 profile noted that the nearby village of Kfar Chabad, founded in 1949, had lost most of its agricultural activity and gained a railway station by the time of publication.[4]

By 2011, Kfar Chabad was described as an established station that had been built many years earlier. That year, the Transportation Ministry said it would be relocated as part of the fast-lane project near Tel Aviv and described construction of a station near the fast lane as the project's next stage.[5]

The proposed station was estimated to cost approximately NIS 100 million, but the ministry gave no relocation timetable and declined to say whether the move had been budgeted.[5] The available sources do not establish that the proposed relocation was subsequently carried out.

Under a timetable change announced for September 2025, Kfar Chabad was added as a stop for one of the two hourly trains on the Binyamina–Rehovot route. That service was extended through Yavne East, Ashdod Ad Halom, and Ashkelon, while its stop at Lod Ganei Aviv was discontinued. On the Beit Shemesh–Netanya line, the same revision removed the Kfar Chabad stop and added Lod Ganei Aviv.[6]

Service notices during the August 2025 infrastructure failure listed Kfar Chabad and Lod Ganei Aviv together: both were closed during the disruption and subsequently announced for reopening as service was restored.[2][3]

Kfar Chabad station has temporarily closed on several occasions for planned maintenance and infrastructure upgrades. During a 2017 weekend reinforcement project, it was shut alongside Tel Aviv HaShalom, Modi'in Central, Pa'atei Modi'in, Ben Gurion Airport, and Lod Ganei Aviv. Services were rerouted or shortened, terminating at Tel Aviv Savidor Central, Lod, or Tel Aviv HaHagana depending on the route.[7]

In June 2018, Kfar Chabad was among five stations closed during electrification and track-conversion work, together with Modi'in, Ben Gurion Airport, Lod, and Lod Ganei Aviv. From June 24 at 05:00 through June 28 at 05:00, trains on the Nahariya–Modi'in line terminated at Tel Aviv HaHagana.[8] Israel Railways operated free replacement buses between Modi'in Center and Ben Gurion Airport and a round-the-clock service between Tel Aviv Savidor Center and Ben Gurion Airport; the source did not identify a replacement route directly serving Kfar Chabad.[8]

In July 2026, complex track-upgrade and maintenance works in the Kfar Chabad area temporarily closed Kfar Chabad and Lod Ganei Aviv and suspended regular service between Lod and Tel Aviv. Israel Railways substituted an hourly Lod–Tel Aviv Savidor Center service without intermediate stops, together with free shuttles and increased regular bus service.[9][10]

A major disruption began after a freight train damaged electrification infrastructure on August 14, 2025. The damage extended across hundreds of meters at two principal locations: the Ganot Junction area south of Tel Aviv and the Kfar Vitkin–Hadera area. Kfar Chabad and Lod Ganei Aviv were closed while repairs were carried out.[2][11]

Ashkelon/Rehovot–Binyamina services operated only to and from Lod. The Beit Shemesh–Netanya line was split into separate services between Beit Shemesh and Lod and between Tel Aviv Savidor Center and Netanya.[2]

Israel Railways provided free peak-hour shuttles along the Lod Ganei Aviv–Kfar Chabad–Tel Aviv Savidor Center route. Other free shuttles ran between Lod and Savidor Center, between Hadera West and Netanya, and overnight between Savidor Center and Ben Gurion Airport.[2] The railway disruption also coincided with strike action, compounding difficulties for commuters.[12]

Israel Railways later announced that Kfar Chabad and Lod Ganei Aviv would reopen as trains from the south resumed service to Tel Aviv HaHagana. Most national service was expected to return the following day, although some routes continued to require transfers; direct services were scheduled to be fully restored by September 1, 2025.[3][11]

In a reported incident, Israel Railways security teams removed a stowaway who had boarded a freight train during an operational stop at Tel Aviv Savidor Central and traveled while lying on top of the moving train. Officials detected him within minutes, and he was removed about 20 minutes later at Kfar Chabad station.[13]