Israel Railways Threatens Legal Action Against Third-Party Train App

Israel Railways has threatened legal action against the developers of the popular third-party train schedule application, Better Rail, demanding it cease accessing company systems, delete collected data, and be removed from app stores. The state-owned railway company alleges that Better Rail has been accessing its systems without authorization, using the data for commercial purposes, and causing strain and disruptions to its digital services.

Better Rail has denied these accusations, stating that the app is free, ad-free, open-source, and not designed for profit. Its developers claim they accessed data through standard network requests, without hacking or bypassing security measures. The app, created by Guy Tepper and operational since approximately 2021, offers a faster, simpler alternative to the official railway service, providing real-time schedules, delays, and route changes. User donations partially fund the project.

Israel Railways considers its scheduling, route, and other system-generated data proprietary. The company asserts that its terms of service permit data use only for personal, non-commercial purposes and that system access is protected by code, permissions, and other technological means. Israel Railways claims Better Rail accessed not only officially transmitted data to the Ministry of Transport but also additional information and technological products, potentially including trade secrets, which could constitute illegal computer intrusion and theft of trade secrets.

The railway company also cited digital infrastructure strain, pointing to a route planning system failure in August 2025 and three overload incidents on May 19, 2026. Investigations, according to Israel Railways, indicated that external requests, including Better Rail's activity, contributed to these failures and increased infrastructure and cloud service costs, estimated in the hundreds of thousands of shekels.

Despite Israel Railways' prior demand on June 22 to cease using its interfaces, the activity continued. The developers are now also required to disclose their data acquisition methods, tools, request frequency, and data volume. Better Rail stated it has received approximately 2,000 shekels in user donations over five years, insufficient to cover development and maintenance costs. They also noted that no login or special permission was needed to access the data, and its open-source nature allows verification of their methods. The app serves about a thousand users daily, compared to hundreds of thousands using the official service.

"We reject the hooligan and absurd demand to remove the app from stores. We will continue to provide passengers with access to train schedules," the developers stated on X. However, Better Rail has ceased direct connection to Israel Railways' systems and switched to using data transmitted to the Ministry of Transport. The developers warned that this data shows significant discrepancies, particularly with train cancellations and platform changes, potentially reducing the app's accuracy, and urged users to report errors.