Template talk:Israel Railways routemap

Sharon Loop

Some point next year the Sharon line should be completed and become a loop. With this change, the station "after" the Ra'anana West station will be Herzliya. At present the line ends parallel to Atlit, much further up the line.

Any ideas how to redesign the map to correctly show the line while keeping the rest of the map as close to the current state as possible? Chocom (talk) 09:08, 11 July 2018 (UTC)

Chocom, not simple. Maybe loop the line at Hod Hasharon or Kfar Saba and add some spaces at the sides for stations that would move to the center? Any solution here has some disadvantages. gidonb (talk) 20:57, 1 December 2019 (UTC)

Gidonb, thanks for the reply. The completion has been delayed several times so there's still some time to figure out how to do this. I'll give your idea a try and see how it turns out. What do you think of making this part a collapsible section? Chocom (talk) 05:19, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Gidonb, I've tried setting it up as a loop on my sandbox page. Care to take a look? Chocom (talk) 08:49, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Chocom, I love your investment in this map! I'm personally no fan of collapsible sections, if not strictly needed. Will Rosh HaAyin be a station where lines end/start and folks have to change trains? Or will the Beer Sheva-Ashkelon-Tel Aviv line continue to loop around the Sharon? I know there is a capacity problem in the Ayalon. I see that you also added the Modiin loop! I can already suggest that Beit Shemesh should be a large dot (as a must change station) and that the Emek line should be flipped because it has the wrong directionality while there is no space problem. gidonb (talk) 09:59, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Gidonb, if no one objects, I'll replace the map with the updated one in my sandbox when the line actually opens. I decided to put Rosh Ha'ayin as a big station for 3 reasons: 1. It is a major station where many people leave there cars or come from the greater area by bus and continue by train (much more than the other stations on the line). 2. In the future, this will be the connecting station to the Eastern line. 3. This station is more or less the halfway point. Passengers from stations "after" this one will prefer to travel via the new line once it opens. Regarding Beit Shemesh, yes it's a must change station if you're going to or coming from Jerusalem on this line, but that line is SO minor, there are only around 7 trains per day that leave Beit Shemesh for Jerusalem. Does this justify a large station symbol? Also, not sure what you meant regarding the Emek line, why do you understand that it's in the wrong direction? Chocom (talk) 12:54, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

All this makes sense. I was still trying to understand if the line really needs to loop at Rosh HaAyin, reached no conclusions yet either way. Your analysis is correct and this would be the correct looping station and likely main station, especially taking the future east line into account. However, if adding the east line, it would go to a different location. Technically we can already get it exactly to that point by adding the current freight line. I do not know if this is worth your effort at this time, but I'm willing to work with you through it. I think that the large dot at Beit Shemesh is justified. It is also easily changed if the railway situation changes again. However, if the Beit Shemesh-Malha line becomes light-rail Beit Shemesh would still be a large dot as it would remain a terminus (see legend). Now it is a double terminus. This brings us to Karmiel, Nahariya, Beit Shean, Hof HaCarmel, Atlit, Binyamina, Natanya, Raanana West (right now), Modiin Central, Harishonim, Beer Sheva North, Dimona -- all are termini. The directionality of the Emek Railway is southeast from Haifa, we have it go northeast, hence is probably best flipped. gidonb (talk) 14:27, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Finally, it would be awesome if we can add some tunnels on the new line to Jerusalem! gidonb (talk) 14:55, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

Don't do anything yet. I'll make a schematic map! gidonb (talk) 16:32, 4 December 2019 (UTC)

OK Gidonb, flipping the Emek line is no big deal, same for changing the Beit Shemesh icon. I know about the freight line, but currently the map doesn't include any freight details and I think for good reason. We want to keep the map as clear and readable as possible. Last thing, schematic map? What? Thanks for all the help Chocom (talk) 22:02, 7 December 2019 (UTC)

Gidonb, I've updated my sandbox version with all your suggested changes. Waiting on you, since you asked me not to implement any changes. Let me know what you think and what we can/should use on the actual template. Chocom (talk) 07:08, 8 December 2019 (UTC)

Gidonb, with the latest plans of not running trains in a full loop, rather only until the Herzliya station, I redrew the map. I put both versions next to each other in my sandbox. Hope you'll have a chance to take a look. Chocom (talk) 14:02, 18 December 2019 (UTC)

So the Sharon loop line was finally opened last week, though only running in partial setup (till Herzliya, not till Tel Aviv). I'm replacing the map with one I prepared a few months ago. Chocom (talk) 18:28, 5 July 2020 (UTC)