Eastern Railway (Israel)

The Eastern Railway (Hebrew: המסילה המזרחית, romanized: ha-mesila ha-mizraḥit) refers to a railroad in central Israel stretching from Lod to Hadera.

The line was built as narrow gauge (1,050 mm or 3 ft 5+11⁄32 in) like the rest of the Ottoman railways in the region and was situated relatively inland to avoid the reach of naval guns from Royal Navy warships patrolling the Mediterranean coast.

After the British conquered the area, they converted the railway to standard gauge and extended it from Hadera north to the port city of Haifa.

During the Mandate period, stations on the Eastern Railway operated in Hadera, Qaqun, Tulkarm, Qalqilyah, Rosh HaAyin, Rantiya, Kafr Jinis, and Lydda (Lod).

In the later stages of World War II and for a short time thereafter, the Eastern Railway was one link in a larger contiguous standard gauge rail network that allowed trains to travel all the way from Anatolia to southern Egypt.

Hadera East, a terminal station since 1969, is only used for handling freight trains bound for the adjacent Granot "Ambar North" large feed mill complex.

The National Roads Company is supervising the rebuilding of the defunct line from Hadera to Kfar Sava, while Israel Railways is managing the upgrading and double-tracking of the section between Rosh HaAyin and Lod.

The southern end of the Hadera section in 2018, looking north towards Hadera East , the northernmost station on the line.
The north end of the Lod–Kfar Saba section in 2017: the dirt road aligns with the original single-track line to Hadera; the double-track line curving to the right is the beginning of the Sharon Railway