After years of infrastructure work and planning, the “Samaria-Taybeh” train station was inaugurated Tuesday in a ceremonial opening. The new station, built as part of the Eastern Railway project, creates a major transportation corridor designed to ease traffic congestion on area roads and cut travel times between Samaria and the Tel Aviv metropolitan area and central Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Transportation Minister Miri Regev, Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan, Israel Railways board chairman Moshe Shimoni, and other senior officials from the Transportation Ministry, Israel Railways, and Netivei Israel attended the ceremony.
Samaria Governor Yossi Dagan, who has promoted the station’s establishment for over a decade, said it’s part of a broader strategic plan: “After persistent work, we’re connecting northern Samaria to the State of Israel with a real railway. This is a significant step on the path to our goal of bringing a million residents to Samaria.”
The new station marks a historic precedent for Israel’s rail system—it’s the first official station to include the name “Samaria.” It’s expected to serve tens of thousands of residents from communities and towns in the area, including Avnei Hefetz, Sal’it, Tzofim, Einav, and Shavei Shomron, as well as residents of the surrounding region.
Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed the project’s national significance in his speech: “There’s a huge piece of good news here for Israel’s citizens. We’re reducing the burden on the coastal corridor and enabling a parallel route for all our citizens. This is going to bring major development momentum and increase transportation speed across the entire country. The blessing and prosperity this will give Israel’s citizens is enormous.”