Today, 132 years ago - The official opening of the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway
Immediately after Rosh Hashanah, on Tishrey 5th תרנ"ב, September 26, 1892, the first train left Jaffa for Jerusalem, draped in the flags of the Ottoman Empire. The journey time on the new line was about four hours. A special envoy from the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire was present at the inauguration ceremony of the railroad, also the governor of the Jerusalem district on behalf of the empire, the consuls in Jerusalem and many journalists.
Eliezer Ben-Yehuda saw the construction of the train as a symbol of the victory of the Enlightenment, and in particular of the Jewish Enlightenment movement, over the traditional communities that ruled Jerusalem at the time and that fought his efforts for the revival of the Hebrew language and the renewal of the Hebrew nation and against innovations in general. Yehiel Michal Pines suggested to Eliezer Ben-Yehuda a Hebrew name for the "Steel Horse". As the biblical word "ga'melet" (which means caravan of camels) he suggested the word "A'gelet" (that is, a caravan of wagons). Ben Yehuda accepted the "weight" offered by Pines, but preferred a different basis. This is how he coined the new word "Ra'kevet" (vehicle convoy).
Every day one passenger train left in each direction - in the morning from Jerusalem and in the afternoon from Jaffa. The operation of the train was dependent on the supply of water at various points along the track route in order to generate the steam needed to drive the locomotive, which was an operational difficulty during dry periods. It was also necessary to concentrate dry wood piles for the fuel to create the steam. Despite the train's slow travel speed (about 25 km/h), traveling on it between Jaffa and Jerusalem was much more comfortable and faster than traveling by carts, and therefore its operation soon led to a severe crisis among the cart owners. While the cart owners tried to lower the prices in order to attract the poor population, the railway opened a third class as competition for this sector.
With the beginning of the British Mandate, the line was operated and maintained by the Mandatory Railway. The line that began to be paved in the Ottoman days was stretched in the British days to Cairo in the south and Beirut in the north. Thus the Jaffa-Jerusalem railway was connected to the Cairo-Beirut railway and to the Emek railway, all of which were operated by the Mandatory Railway.
In 1948, in the midst of the War of Independence, train traffic to Jerusalem stopped while the city was under siege. After the war, sections of the track remained in the hands of the Jordanian Legion. Following the Rhodes Agreements that regulated the post-war cease-fire, the rail sections were returned to Israel. The Jaffa-Jerusalem line was returned to use on August 7, 1949, when an Israeli train entered Jerusalem for the first time, containing a symbolic load of flour, cement and Torah scrolls.
Visit the Train Museum: https://rail.co.il/?page=museum
Photo: First train enters the station in Jerusalem, September 1892
