International Railroad Discussion > Railfanning in Israel?

Good day.

Work will twice take me to Tel Aviv in February, my first time going there.  I've researched a bit here and on the web, and there are certainly trains and it seems railfanning and photography are being practiced.  Most of the destinations to which I now travel either don't have any rail action to speak of and/or are not safe to travel about.  Needless to say, I am thrilled about the possibility of getting back to some international railfanning on my time outside the US.

I would love to hear what others on this forum may have experienced in travels to the country or know of as far as good resources I may have overlooked during internet research.  To narrow down my ask, my primary interest is freight operations.  I am the type who will forego the opportunity to photograph a hundred passenger trains to get one freight train.  That said, I do find locomotive-hauled passenger trains intriguing, so I am happy to entertain some thoughts on those operations.

I will have an entire day free and will be relatively close to a passenger station and could travel somewhere if that increases the chances of photographing freight trains over staying in Tel Aviv.  It does appear there is freight service down the mainline in the middle of the major highway heading to the north from Tel Aviv, but if there are better locations, I am open to hearing about those if travel is not too difficult. 

Also, any ideas on how frequent freight service is in the country is appreciated.  While I've seen plenty of photos and videos of freight trains, for all I know there could be just a few a day and it's pretty much the same few trains I'm seeing in these photos.  Hopefully busier than that, but I'm definitely not expecting to find freight levels equivalent to some major US railfanning hotspot.  I'll just be happy to get something at all, honestly.

Any and all information is greatly appreciated!

Mike Derrick
 



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/23 06:05 by ShortlinesUSA.

Mike - you might check the website "Trainspo", and search for the photos in Israel.  There are quite a few shots recently on there of freight trains and loco-hauled passenger trains in Israel, so that would at least give you an idea for locations.  As to frequencies - not sure of a good source for that.

May want to a bit careful photographing infrastructure in a country which is very security conscious.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/23 15:34 by TomPittsfieldMA.

Most freight in Israel is mineral traffic from the Negev Desert to the port of Ashdod. Phosphates and the like.

TomPittsfieldMA Wrote:
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> May want to a bit careful photographing
> infrastructure in a country which is very security
> conscious.

Especially anywhere near Dimona where their nuclear plant et al are located.  There were No Photography signs along the main highway (paralleled the railway mainline) where it passed the facilities, which  were in the distance.  Outside of those stretches of highway I had no problem train chasing,  although that was 30 years ago.  I did have a photo permit from the railway public relations boss,  Ian Falkov,  which he typed for me at his office in Tel Aviv station.  Was interesting seeing the typewriter carriage moving in the opposite direction.  Permit was in Hebrew and got me into the engine terminals at Lod, Haifa and Dimona,  as well as all stations.