Transportation in Israel is based mainly on private motor vehicles and bus service and an expanding railway network. A lack of inland waterways and the small size of the country make air and water transport of only minor importance in domestic transportation, but they are vitally important for Israel's international transport links. Demands of population growth, political factors, the Israel Defense Forces, tourism and increased traffic set the pace for all sectors, being a major driver in the mobility transition towards railways and public transit while moving away from motorized road transport. All facets of transportation in Israel are under the supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Road Safety.
Ben Gurion International Airport, commonly known by the Hebrew-language acronym Natbag, is the main international airport of Israel. Situated on the northern outskirts of the city of Lod, it is the busiest airport in the country. It is located 45 kilometres (28 mi) to the northwest of Jerusalem and 20 kilometres (12 mi) to the southeast of Tel Aviv. It was known as Lod Airport until 1973, when it was renamed in honour of David Ben-Gurion (1886–1973), the first prime minister of Israel. The airport serves as a hub for El Al, Israir Airlines, Arkia, and Sun d'Or, and is managed by the Israel Airports Authority.
Gush Dan or Tel Aviv metropolitan area is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no single formal definition of Gush Dan, though the term is in frequent use by both governmental bodies and the general public. It ranges from combining Tel Aviv with cities that form an urban continuum with it, to the entire areas from both the Tel Aviv District and the Central District, or sometimes the whole Metropolitan Area of Tel Aviv, which includes a small part of the Southern District as well. Gush Dan is the largest conurbation and metropolitan area in Israel and the center of Israel's financial and High technology sector. The metropolitan area having an estimated population of 4,156,900 residents, 89% of whom are Israeli Jews.
The Tel Aviv Light Rail, also known as Dankal is a mass transit system for Gush Dan, the Tel Aviv metropolitan area in central Israel. The system will include different modes of mass transit, including rapid transit (metro), light rail transit (LRT), and bus rapid transit (BRT). Overseen by NTA Metropolitan Mass Transit System Ltd., a government agency, the project will complement the intercity and suburban rail network operated by Israel Railways.
Petah Tikva is a city in the Central District of Israel.
Binyamina railway station is an Israel Railways passenger station located in the region of Binyamina-Giv'at Ada and serves these towns, as well as Zikhron Ya'akov, Or Akiva and other small communities in the area.
The Tel Aviv Savidor Central railway station is a major railway station on the Ayalon Railway in central Tel Aviv, Israel, serving most lines of Israel Railways.
Transport in Jerusalem is characterized by a well-developed inter-city network and an emerging, developing intra-city network. Ben Gurion International Airport serves as Jerusalem's closest international airport. Egged bus lines and Israel Railways connect the city of Jerusalem to much of Israel, and a high-speed rail line to the airport and Tel Aviv is currently under construction, while the segment to Ben Gurion Airport is already in limited operation. Within the city, the roads, rather than the rails, are the primary mode of transportation.
Ben Gurion Airport railway station is an Israel Railways station located in the lower level of Ben Gurion International Airport's Terminal 3. The station opened on 10 October 2004, together with the opening of Terminal 3. The railway line extending to the northwest from the station connects it to Tel Aviv and points north, while in the other direction from the station the railway splits south to Lod and southeast to Modi'in and Jerusalem.
Rishon LeZion–HaRishonim railway station is a station of Israel Railways in Rishon LeZion, part of the Tel Aviv – Rishon LeZion line. The station is located in the southern area of the city, in the middle of HaRishonim Interchange, at the intersection of the new Highway 431 and Route 412. It was opened on September 13, 2003, with the Beit Shemesh railway station. The station has two platforms. It is the southern terminus of the suburban line to Netanya.
Tel Aviv HaShalom railway station is a major railway station on the Ayalon Railway in central Tel Aviv, Israel, serving most lines of Israel Railways. It is located in the median of the Ayalon Highway at the HaShalom interchange, near the city's main commercial area and HaKirya IDF base. In 2019, over 15 million passengers used the station, making it the busiest in the country.
Tel Aviv HaHagana railway station is a major railway station on the Ayalon Railway in southern Tel Aviv, Israel, serving most lines of Israel Railways. It is located in the median of the Ayalon Highway, north of Highway 1 and 400 meters east of the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station. In 2019, over six million passengers used the station, making it the third-busiest in the country after the nearby Savidor Central and HaShalom stations at the time; it was subsequently overtaken by Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon and demoted to fourth place, but remains the third-busiest station in Tel Aviv.
Rail transport in Israel includes heavy rail as well as light rail. Excluding light rail, the network consists of 1,511 kilometers (939 mi) of track, and is undergoing constant expansion. All of the lines are standard gauge and as of 2023 approximately one-fifth of the heavy rail network is electrified, with additional electrification work underway. A government owned rail company, Israel Railways, manages the entire heavy rail network. Most of the network is located on the densely populated coastal plain.
The Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway is a railway line in Israel connecting the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. The line serves as the main rail link between the two cities, complementing the old Jaffa–Jerusalem railway. As such, the railway is often referred to in Israel as the high-speed railway to Jerusalem to distinguish it from the older, longer and slower line. In spite of that name, the line is not high-speed under the definition used by the International Union of Railways: both its design speed of 200 km/h (125 mph) and its current operational speed of 160 km/h (99 mph) are below the 250 km/h (155 mph) threshold used by the UIC to define high-speed railways, and it is traversed by IR's regular rolling stock instead of the UIC requirement for specially-designed high-speed trains.
Bnei Brak–Ramat HaHayal railway station is a suburban passenger railway station in Israel, operated by Israel Railways. It is located on the Yarkon Railway near the Bnei Brak–Ramat Gan and Bnei Brak–Tel Aviv borders next to the Ayalon Mall and Ramat Gan Stadium. In spite of its proximity to important industrial and commercial areas of Gush Dan as well as to residential areas of Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak is one of the less-popular stations of Israel Railways, possibly because of its misleading name and lack of awareness. As a result, in an effort to increase the public's awareness of the station, the name of the Ramat HaHayal neighborhood located to the north of the station was added to the station's name in 2016.
The Red Line is the first section of a light rail system in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, known as the Tel Aviv Light Rail. The line runs from Bat Yam in the south to Petah Tikva in the northeast with a significant portion of it underground. The total cost of the red line is estimated at NIS 11 billion or, approximately US$3 billion. Construction began in 2011, with the testing phase of the line beginning only a decade later, in 2021. After numerous delays concerning the security and safety of the line, it eventually opened on August 18, 2023 with a 100,000+ daily ridership over just 8 hours of operation.
Tel Aviv South railway station was the name of two former railway stations in Tel Aviv, Israel, which were situated in two different locations. The original station opened in 1920, then in 1970 it was relocated 2.5 km south-east, and it finally closed to passengers in 1993.
The Coastal railway line is a mainline railway in Israel, which begins just south of the Lebanon-Israel border on the Mediterranean coast, near the town of Nahariya in Northern Israel and stretches almost the entire Mediterranean coast of the country, to just north of the border with the Gaza Strip in the south.
Transport in Bnei Brak occupies a central location within the Gush Dan. It has an important role in transport throughout the region.
