Israel Railways Sues App Developer Over Data Usage

Israel Railways, known locally as "Rakevet Yisrael," has sent a warning letter to the developers of the Better Rail trip planning application, accusing them of unauthorized data extraction, commercial use of company information, and causing system overloads and disruptions. Better Rail, operating since approximately 2021, is an independent, non-commercial app that offers a faster and simpler alternative to the official railway application. It provides real-time schedule information, delays, station details, and transfer updates. The app is free, ad-free, open-source, and funded partly by user donations.

Israel Railways asserts that its schedule data, trip planning information, and other system-generated data are proprietary and subject to terms of use that permit only personal, non-commercial application. The company further claims its systems and interfaces are protected by code, permissions, and technical controls, and that Better Rail accessed this information by bypassing these mechanisms, constituting illegal computer system intrusion. A separate accusation concerns system load, with the railway alleging that the app's data extraction complicated system operations and disrupted digital service stability.

The Better Rail developers have denied the accusations. They maintain that their free, ad-free, open-source app accesses data through standard network requests, without hacking or bypassing security measures. Regarding the system load claims, Better Rail has requested that the railway provide evidence, including inspection materials, traffic data, and calculations, to substantiate their allegations of damage. They also pointed out that Better Rail serves about a thousand users daily, compared to the hundreds of thousands using the official application.