The Planning and Construction Commission for the Southern District of Israel has approved the first section of the Eilat Railway to the south of the country. Eight years ago, in February 2012, the government initially approved the railway, although the decision on the rest of the line's plans continued to be delayed.

The initial northern region included upgrading and double-tracking the 35-kilometer line between Be'er Sheva and Dimona, which was mainly used to transport ore and phosphate to Ashdod and Haifa. The purpose of reintroducing regular passenger services is to improve the connection between Be'er Sheva and Dimona, and to support Dimona's downtown revitalization plan, and plans to build a station near the Peretz shopping center.

This project will be undertaken by the National Highway Corporation of Israel and will cost about 2.7 billion shekels. It is estimated that by 2030, the passenger volume will reach 5.2 million passengers per year.

This is the first phase of the plan as a larger project, which aims to build a railway linking Ashdod and Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba. The project is expected to cost approximately 24.6 billion shekels and includes passenger terminals in Beer Sheva, Dimona, Sapir, Ketura-Ramon and Eilat, four freight terminals and eight freight loops.

Certain sections of the route have longer routes for freight trains, but the slope is not too steep, so the route length for freight trains is 260 kilometers, while the route length for passenger services is only 240 kilometers.Editor/Huang Lijun