Israel Railways Faces Scrutiny Over Jerusalem Line Safety Measures

Israel Railways has launched a campaign reminding passengers on the Jerusalem line to register and obtain a voucher before boarding, in addition to paying their fare. This measure is intended to track passenger numbers and prevent exceeding the police-imposed limit of 1,200 people per train, a recommendation from the Fire and Rescue Services. While this requirement has been in place since April, it has largely gone unenforced due to low passenger numbers on most journeys, with high loads typically occurring only on Thursdays.

However, Israel Railways is anticipating significant passenger surges on the line this week due to two major events: a football match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and Beitar Jerusalem at Teddy Stadium on Thursday, and next week's election day, which offers free travel on the train. Consequently, passengers may encounter inspectors at stations who will request to see the registration voucher. While inspectors cannot issue fines for lacking a voucher, they are authorized to delay or remove passengers from the train.

A joint team from the Ministry of Transport, the Fire and Rescue Services, and the police is currently developing recommendations for equipment procurement and procedural changes to enhance the fire services' ability to respond to potential fires on trains traveling through the line's long tunnels and bridges. Fire service professionals have raised concerns that specialized fire vehicles purchased for tunnel access have failed in drills, and that rapid response vehicles have not provided adequate solutions. They also noted that Israel Railways has not always been able to provide standby trains for firefighter access and passenger evacuation to parallel tunnels as promised.

Fire service professionals expressed their primary concern is not terrorism, but a fire outbreak, possibly due to battery ignitions from electric scooters, which are permitted on the line. They also highlighted issues with ambulance access to station platforms, which are 80 meters deep, despite newly created access points.

Sources within Israel Railways expressed surprise at the new demands, stating they have met all previous requirements from the fire services since the line's planning stages. They pointed out that European trains operate in longer tunnels and that they have installed required firefighting equipment. These safety concerns were previously raised in a 2020 State Comptroller report and remain unresolved. The joint team recently met with Inspector General Danny Levi, who urged them to expedite their work to ensure line safety and end the passenger inconvenience of voucher issuance. The team may recommend acquiring a specialized fire train for the line, which is expected to increase its frequency significantly to accommodate up to 20,000 passengers per hour. Implementation of any recommendations will take time, meaning the voucher system is likely to remain in place for at least another year.