| General information | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Location | 5 Yoseftal Ave.,Lod | ||||
| Coordinates | 31°56′45″N34°52′32″E / 31.94583°N 34.87556°E /31.94583; 34.87556 | ||||
| Platforms | 3 | ||||
| Tracks | 6 | ||||
| Construction | |||||
| Parking | 300 spaces | ||||
| Bicycle facilities | 5 spaces | ||||
| History | |||||
| Opened | 24 May 1891; 134 years ago (1891-05-24) | ||||
| Rebuilt | 1917–1920; 2016–2020 | ||||
| Electrified | 17 September 2022; 3 years ago (2022-09-17) | ||||
| Passengers | |||||
| 2019 | 2,489,889[1] | ||||
| Rank | 17 out of 68 | ||||
| |||||
Lod railway station is anIsrael Railways station inLod,Israel, served by most railway lines ofIsrael Railways. The station is located in the HaRakevet district of south Lod. In December 2006, Lod Station served a daily average of 7,786 passengers.
Lod station is the 11th most used station of Israel Railways[2] and is home to a major railway depot. It traces its history as such to the 19th century, when it was used as an interim station on theJaffa-Jerusalem line, the first significant railway line in the Middle East. For many years Lod (then calledLydda) was the main railway hub of mandatory Palestine and later Israel as it sits at the intersection of several major rail lines located in the central part of the country. Also, before the establishment of the state of Israel, theCoastal Railway did not exist, neither did westbound spurs from theEastern Railway and therefore all traffic from the north of the country bound forTel Aviv and Jaffa had to first proceed southwards to Lod, then reroute northwest through the station.
The station's location was changed followingWorld War I, when the British rebuilt the Jaffa–Jerusalem line tostandard gauge. The original station building serves as aMagen David Adom station.[3] In the late 2010s, the passenger station was rebuilt again, and the new station building, around 500 m northeast from the 1910s-era passenger station, opened on 29 November 2020. The new station complex, around 6000 m2 in area, is the third-largest in Israel afterJerusalem–Yitzhak Navon andModi'in Central. It is located next to the newIsrael Railways' headquarters building, which was relocated from theTel Aviv Savidor Central railway station in 2017. In 2021, the Lod central bus station is expected to be relocated near the new railway station, forming a combined passenger station complex.
The sprawling site also houses a largerail yard and extensive rolling stock maintenance facilities.
In late 2021, Lod station's electronic signage was upgraded to display information in Arabic, in addition to Hebrew and English.
In 2024, the former station building was restored to its British Mandate-era condition, with one exception: a 1968 mural byLeah Majaro-Mintz [he], which was originally displayed in theJerusalem-Khan railway station was added to the waiting room.
Bus routes that stop outside the station are:Kavim lines 11, 150, 152, 239 and 461, andEgged line 249.
| Preceding station | Following station | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tel Aviv–HaHagana towardsNahariya | Nahariya–Beersheba | Ramla towardsBe'er Sheva–Center | ||
| Tel Aviv–HaHagana towardsKarmiel | Karmiel–Beersheba | Kiryat Gat towardsBe'er Sheva–Center | ||
| Lod–Ganei Aviv towardsBinyamina | Binyamina–Beersheba | Be'er Ya'akov towardsBe'er Sheva–Center | ||
| Kfar Chabad towardsNetanya | Netanya–Rehovot | Be'er Ya'akov towardsRehovot | ||
| Lod–Ganei Aviv towardsNetanya | Netanya–Beit Shemesh | Ramla towardsBeit Shemesh | ||