Jerusalem–Yitzhak Navon Railway Station (Hebrew: תחנת הרכבת ירושלים – יצחק נבון, Tahanat HaRakevet Yerushalaim–Yitzhak Navon; Arabic: محطة أورشليم – يتسحاق ناڤون), originally named Jerusalem–HaUma railway station is an Israel Railways passenger terminal in Jerusalem, located at 6 Shazar Avenue.[4]
The station is the eastern terminus of the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway. It is the world's deepest heavy-rail passenger station, with its platforms extending down to 80 metres (260 ft) below street level.[5] At the time of its opening, it was the fourth deepest underground station in the world and the deepest underground station outside the former Soviet Union; it is currently the sixth-deepest in the world, and the deepest in West Asia.[note 1] It is located across from Binyanei HaUma and constitutes part of a major public transportation hub, being situated adjacent to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station as well as next to a station serving current and future lines of the Jerusalem Light Rail.
Construction of the station began in 2007 and was completed in 2018 at a cost of about NIS 500 million (appx. US$140 million).[6]
2,674,840 passengers boarded or disembarked at the station in 2019,[7] making it the 16th busiest station in the country overall at the time. As electrification works progressed northwards along the line, direct services from Tel Aviv were made possible without the need for a transfer at Ben-Gurion Airport and as a result the station's ridership rankings rose further – making it the fifth-busiest railway station in the country and the busiest outside of Tel Aviv (immediately above the previous holder of this title, Haifa Hof HaCarmel) with 1,651,659 passengers boarding or disembarking in 2020.
In 2021, 3,598,443 passengers embarked and disembarked, not only surpassing the (2019) pre-COVID traffic numbers, but also making Navon station the fourth-busiest in the network, above Tel Aviv University.[8]
In 2022, Navon Station reached a ridership of 6,536,393,[9] nearly double that of the previous year, placing it behind only the Savidor Central and HaShalom stations in central Tel Aviv. 2022 also marked the opening of a second line served by the station, connecting Jerusalem with Modi'in, as well as the beginning of nighttime services;[10] initially only between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv Savidor, with a stop at Ben Gurion Airport, these services were extended in 2023 to stop at Herzliya, Netanya, Hadera and Binyamina,[11] continuing well north of the daytime services (which still terminate at Herzliya).
Station structure
Due to the constraints of building the Tel Aviv–Jerusalem railway in a grade suitable for carrying passengers, the station platforms had to be built 80 metres (260 ft) below street level, at the end of a tunnel leading to the railroad bridge over Emeq HaArazim.
The underground portion of the station is built as a pylon tri-vault. The side vaults each host one of the two island platforms, and are linked by three pairs of overpasses to the central vault. The length of the platforms is 300 metres (980 ft),[12] and the temperature inside remains consistent year-round.
The central vault itself contains the escalators, high-speed elevators and stairways leading up to the surface vestibule 60 metres (200 ft) above, where the station offices, ticket offices, station café and other services are located.
The surface vestibule is located at an elevation of 815 metres (2,674 ft), with most of the station's 60,000 square metres (650,000 sq ft) of floorspace located underground.[5] The lion's share of the underground portion is home to vast logistical and operating areas. The station can double as a shelter in case of a conventional, biological or chemical attack, being able to provide refuge for 5,000 people.[13] Due to the station's vast depth, its underground portion has large ventilation systems pulling in air directly from the surface level, which are also capable of quickly sucking out air in the event of a fire.
Future plans
As of 2022, additional surface entrances from the east and south are being added as part of a major urban re-development plan being carried out in the vicinity of the station.
