Train journey

I spent Thursday giving training sessions to users (both new and advanced, although not at the same time) with our ERP program in Haifa. This was cunningly arranged so that I could spend Thursday evening with friends in the north of Israel and then return home the next day without causing any problems at work (our work week is Sunday - Thursday, although I always work a few hours on Friday). As fortune would have it, there is a train station near where I live and one very near where I was giving the training sessions, so it was a no-brainer travelling by train instead of car.

On Friday morning, I was taken to the train station in Nahariya (11 kilometres from the Lebanese border) and boarded a train which was headed for Ben Gurion airport. My intention was to alight at one of the stations in Tel Aviv and then change to a train from Tel Aviv to my station (Bet Shemesh). But once the journey got underway, the conductor said that the train would continue past Ben Gurion airport, stopping at Lod, Kiryat Gat and Be'er Sheva. These names probably won't mean to non-Israelis, but the point is that the train was leaving the most northern station of the rail network and continuing through to the southernmost station - a very long journey (it's like a train I once boarded in Britain which went from Liverpool to Bournemouth).

I was very surprised at this information as I wasn't aware that the network had been extended past Ben Gurion airport. The airport had only been added as a station about a year ago and I had yet to travel there as it was the end of a line. But for the past few years I have been watching in awe as a bridge had been built by the airport, arching over the motorway from Jerusalem to Tel Aviv. Step by step this has been a fascinating process to watch. Listening to the conductor's announcement, I realised that the bridge had become operational, and so decided to stay on the train until Lod, where I could switch trains.

The track from Tel Aviv to Ben Gurion is short and mainly underground, arriving at the basement of the airport. This line could be very useful for people flying, although of course it depends on the hours that the train runs. Then we continued out of the airport and over the main road - not as fast as I would have liked, but still impressive. A few minutes later we were in Lod, where I alighted.

I suggested later to my father that he spend a few hours having fun on the railway (he doesn't have much else to do): take a train from Bet Shemesh to Lod, change and wait for a train going to Ben Gurion and points north. Change at Ben Gurion and then come back. It's good for a morning's entertainment and won't cost very much.

I still haven't travelled to Jerusalem by train, something which is more enjoyment than necessity. Apparently the views are astounding (and having walked several times along that region, I can appreciate this), but the journey is slow.