Israel Railways (רכבת ישראל)

I’m a self-proclaimed train freak - I LOVE taking the train when I can, I love the sound of a train pulling into the station, I love how efficient, modern and useful trains are to get from point A to point B quickly. Except… for Israel Railways. I don’t like the Israrail.

Honestly, I just don’t get it. Big, beautiful, accessible and clean stations, modern ticketing systems, large red german double-decker train cars (known in Germany as the “Regional”)... and the train management is so reckless and inefficient, it’s embarrassing.

1. The suburban line only comes once in half an hour. This is of course ridiculous, when most people waiting for the train only have a 10 minute ride.

2. The train is consistently late. So late, that sometimes a scheduled train won’t show up at all.

3. A 5-car double decker is not enough at 7am when the train is 45 minutes late and HUNDREDS of soldiers and business people are waiting at the station. Think you need to go to Japan to experience being a human sardine? Think again.

4. The customer complaints office is slow and under-staffed. They should either hire more people or stop sucking.

In short, I HATE taking the Israeli Rail. For two years I had to take it twice a day to my military service in Tel Aviv and probably would have court martialed my way out if it wasn’t for my friends waiting with me at the station every morning to take the edge off. As they say in Israel, the trouble of many is half a condolence.

Thank heavens the inter-city tram is planning.