New Faster and Cleaner Electric Train Service Coming to Southern Israel

Jerusalem, 17 September, 2025 (TPS-IL) — The Ministry of Transportation and Israel Railways are ending a year of accelerated electrification work and has good news for residents of the south: Starting Friday, September 26, new electric trains will be operated for the first time on the Western Negev lines. The move will reduce travel times to the center of the country from the south by 10-20 minutes, extend the train’s operating hours midweek until midnight, and resume train traffic on Fridays and Saturdays.

New travel times: Travel from Sderot (just north of Gaza) to Tel Aviv will take only 53 minutes (instead of 1 hour and 6 minutes); travel from Netivot-Tel Aviv will take only 63 minutes (instead of 1 hour and 17 minutes) and Ofakim (located west of Be’er Sheva)-Tel Aviv will take only 70 minutes (instead of 1 hour and 28 minutes). In the opposite direction (north to south), travel time will be even shorter and will be 51 minutes from Tel Aviv to Sderot, 61 minutes to Netivot (located west of Be’er Sheva), and 70 minutes to Ofakim.

The operating hours of Sderot, Netivot and Ofakim stations will be extended until midnight (approximately) on weekdays. On Fridays, trains will operate until 3:00 PM (approximately) and on Saturdays starting at 9:00 PM (approximately).