Mandy Salzman, CEO of Haifa Port: "The cooperation between the Port of Haifa and Israel Railways does not begin and end with the unloading of the cargo, but is the product of joint work at all levels of management."
Shahar Ayalon, CEO of Israel Railways, and Mandy Salzman, CEO of the Haifa Port Company, inaugurated this morning (Thursday) the new section of track at the Kishon platform in Haifa Port, which aims to transport cargo directly from the platforms to all parts of the country.
The project to build the new track for the platform, two kilometers long, lasted about a year, and as early as next week, the first electric train of the Israel Railways intended for the high-speed line to Jerusalem will be unloaded at the platform directly to the track, as part of the huge project of electrifying the train. The ship carrying the railcars left about two weeks ago from the port of Bremen in Germany and is now in the Mediterranean on its way to the port of Haifa loaded with an electric locomotive and six railcars.
The inauguration of the track today is another step in the close cooperation between the Haifa Port Company and the Israel Railways which has already resulted in a project to build another track and extend the availability of the eastern platform in favor of transporting containers. The track in Kishon is intended, apart from unloading the wagons and locomotives, for transporting general cargo, mainly building iron. The train is capable of carrying about 1000 tons of iron for construction in about 22 cars that left the Kishon dock after being unloaded from the ship into cars.
Mandy Salzman, CEO of Haifa Port:
"The cooperation between the Port of Haifa and Israel Railways does not begin and end with the unloading of the cargo, but is the product of joint work at all levels of management."
Shahar Ayalon, CEO of Israel Railways:
"The world of transportation is a national challenge and requires conceptual collaborations like the one being launched today. In recent years, the volume of cargo transportation by train has increased to 400 million NIS per year and our vision is door-to-door transportation from the port to the factory and back. Each freight train unloads dozens of trucks from the busy roads."
Uri Sharrir, Israel Railways Cargo Vice President:
"The cooperation between Israel Railways and the Port of Haifa is constantly accelerating and the results are seen throughout the country, in the expansion of the number of tracks and the increase in the number of freight trains traveling throughout the country."
David Cohen, Chief Operating Officer of Haifa Port: "The cooperation with the train is exceptional. They say that private companies are more agile than government companies, so here we have proven that it is also possible to work together efficiently and quickly. It is not a huge infrastructure project, but its contribution can be huge."
Meir Chen, director of the National Authority for Public Transportation and member of the Haifa Port Board of Directors:
"Just as it is written on the signs around us, this cooperation between the train and the port of Haifa is breaking boundaries"