Rail cargo executive moved aside after repeated safety incidents, not fired

Israel Marco, who served as vice president for freight at Israel Railways and was central to the August 2025 electrification accident, is leaving that post and moving to another role in the company. The move comes after a separate serious incident last week, when metal pipes again fell from a freight train. At the same time, Israel Railways said it is forming a special committee to investigate the latest case.

In the August 2025 event, a freight train struck two points along the electrified rail infrastructure, causing major damage and shutting down the rail system for days. The crash exposed flawed procedures and serious safety defects in how goods are loaded onto trains. According to the allegations, after the first impact near Ganyot, Marco arrived at the scene and insisted the train continue toward Haifa, effectively authorizing it to keep moving in violation of procedure. That decision reportedly led to another cable rupture and worsened the damage to the electrification system.

The findings of that investigation were published in March 2026, and Marco was placed on leave about two weeks ago. On Tuesday night, acting Railways CEO Avner Flor decided that Marco would end his current post but remain with the company in a different position.

The latest incident took place last week, when metal pipes fell from a freight train, apparently because of a tie-down failure. Train service was temporarily halted between Haifa Hof HaCarmel, Haifa Bat Galim, Haifa Center HaShmona, and the Merkazit HaMifratz station. Israel Railways also shut down its freight division for two days and carried out an initial investigation before deciding to set up the special review panel.