Acre railway station explained

Acre
Native Name:עכו
Address:David Remez St., Akko
Country:Israel
Platform:3
Tracks:3
Parking:300 free spaces[1]
Bicycle:4 spaces
Opened:1950s
Rebuilt:2002
Accessible:Yes
Passengers:2,043,343[2]
Pass Year:2019
Pass Rank:25 out of 68

Acre railway station (Hebrew: תחנת הרכבת עכו, Taḥanat HaRakevet Ako) is an Israel Railways passenger station serving the city of Acre (Akko) and the surrounding towns and villages.

Location

The station is situated on the North-South coastal line. The station is located on David Remez Street (Hebrew: רחוב רמז, Reḥov Remez) in the eastern part of the city, across the road from the city market and a short walking distance from the central bus station .

History

The original Acre station was constructed by the Ottoman Empire in 1912–1913, as part of the extension to Jezreel Valley railway which branched off in Balad al-Sheikh (present-day Nesher). This branch line was destroyed during the First World War, and restored afterwards by the British Mandate for Palestine. During the Second World War, the British extended the railway north of Acre to Beirut and Tripoli; but the old Acre Railway Station was left off the busy Beirut to Cairo line, and it was only served by the suburban services to Haifa and Krayot.

The present-day station was constructed in the early 1950s at the location of the halt on the Beirut-Cairo railway. The location of the original Ottoman two-storey station building is since 1954 occupied by the Acre School for Naval Officers. The building itself was demolished in mid-1960s.

The station underwent a complete reconstruction from the summer of 2001 until the spring of 2002, which included the update to the present passenger station format of Israel Railways, as well as the erection of an island platform (housing platforms 2 and 3), a modern station hall and a tunnel connecting the two platforms. The official inauguration of the new station hall was on 21 May 2002.

Train service to the station was completely suspended on 13 July 2006, the day after the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict began, due to the Hezbollah rocket attacks on Acre. It was restored 32 days later, on 14 August, two days after the ceasefire went into effect.

Design

The station consists of a side platform on the west (housing platform 1) and an island platform on the east (housing platforms 2 and 3) as well as two parallel rail tracks running between the side platform and the island platform and a third rail track running east of the island platform. The station hall is located on the west platform and a pedestrian tunnel connects the two platforms beneath the tracks.

Platform 1 is used for northbound trains, platform 2 for southbound trains and platform 3 is used for trains beginning or ending their journey at the station.

Train service

Acre Railway Station is a station on the main north–south coastal line of Israel Railways (NahariyaHaifaTel AvivBen-Gurion International AirportBeersheba Inter-City Service). The station is situated between Nahariya Railway Station to the north and Kiryat Motzkin Railway Station to the south.

Timetable highlights:

Station layout

Platform numbers increase in a West-to-East direction

Side platform
Platform 1 Nahariya–Modi'in and Nahariya–Beersheba Returning<---Northbound trains are called רכבת חוזרת in Israel Railways Terminology---> toward Nahariya
Platform 2← Advancing<
Island platform
Platform 3← Termination track – not in ordinary use →

Ridership

Passengers boarding and disembarking by year
Year Passengers Rank Source
2020732,180 2020 Freedom of Information Law Annual Report
20192,043,3432019 Freedom of Information Law Annual Report

Public transport connections

Acre Railway Station is located a short walking distance from Acre's central bus station, thus passenger can reach the station from almost every part of the region. A number of Inter-City and local buses stop just in front of the station, providing even better connection to the railway station.

Sherut Taxis (share taxis) stop on the street, just outside the station.

Facilities

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Israel Railways – Ako (English) . 2015-10-21 . 2016-04-20 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160420073916/http://rail.co.il/en/Stations/Pages/1500.aspx . dead .
  2. Web site: 2019 Freedom of Information Law Annual Report . Israel Railways.