Beit Shemesh Railway Station 2.82

Beit Shemesh Railway Station is an Israel Railways station in Beit Shemesh, Israel on the Tel Aviv – Jerusalem line. The station is located near the northern industrial zone of Beit Shemesh.HistoryBeit Shemesh Station was built under Ottoman rule with the construction of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway, the first rail line in Palestine. The station has been known under four different names: its original name, Dayr Aban, which was changed during the late Mandatory period to Artuf, and later to Hartuv, the name of a nearby Jewish moshava. The location of the station remained unchanged throughout this period, at a point that now lies on the northern border of the city of Beit Shemesh, near Highway 38.The station was closed to passenger trains in July 1998 due to the poor condition of the tracks. During the upgrade of the Jerusalem line, the station was also redesigned, and the line connected to the Gush Dan train system. The upgrade of the tracks was conducted in two parts: first, which was completed on September 13, 2003, included running track to Beit Shemesh, and the second, concluded on April 9, 2005, extended the line to Jerusalem. At the end of 2006, the track was split in two and the Beit Shemesh station became an intermediate station for transferring between the Tel Aviv-Beit Shemesh line and the Beit Shemesh-Jerusalem line. The split line was cancelled on March 15, 2008.