The station is situated on the east–west Ashkelon–Lod branch of the Tel Aviv–Be'er Sheva line. It is located in the northern part of Rehovot, 600 meters north of the main gate of the Weizmann Institute and about 1.5 km north of the city center.
History
The station opened in 1920 on the historic El Kantara–Haifa railway. The station was mostly used for freight, transporting oranges from the many orchards in Rehovot to the Port of Haifa, with a daily passenger train to Jaffa. The regular passenger service was disrupted in 1927, and continued to operate sporadically during the 1930s. During World War II the station was used by the allied forces which were sent to the North African front. The warehouses that previously housed citrus fruits were used as barracks and even as a military hospital. In 1943, a group of 714 children who escaped from Poland arrived at the station via Tehran and Port Said. This group was known in Israel as the "Tehran Children". On May 14, 1948, only hours before the Israeli Declaration of Independence, the last British military train left the station for Egypt. The citrus freight service continued until the 1960s. The station was reopened in 1990 with a suburban service to Tel Aviv. It proved to be a major success, since most residents of Rehovot work in Tel Aviv. Following this success, extensive reconstruction work began in 2000, which included the construction of two new passenger terminals, a pedestrian tunnel under the railway, a bus terminal and two large parking lots. The renovated station opened on December 31, 2001. The Rehovot - Lod railway was double-tracked in 2001. Following the June 21, 2005 railway disaster near Kibbutz Revadim, trains from Be'er Sheva were diverted through the Kiryat Gat – Ashkelon line and non-stop through Rehovot for a day. This led to severe disruptions of the Ashkelon - Tel Aviv suburban service. Trains from Be'er Sheva were also periodically diverted through Rehovot during the reconstruction of the Lod - Kiryat Gat line.
Future plans
A road bridge was designed to carry Route 412 over the railway just west of the station and was completed in 2014. A new railway line between Tel Aviv and Ashdod is currently under construction. When completed, It will allow passenger trains between these two cities to bypass Rehovot. Despite this, Israel Railways plans to double-track the Rehovot-Ashdod line to provide for more freight capacity from the Port of Ashdod.
Design
The station consists of a sideplatform and an island platform, numbered 1 to 3 from north to south. Between the side platform and the island platform there are two parallel rail tracks, and an additional track to the south of platform 3. There is land available for a fourth rail track and a second side platform which are not built as of 2009. There are two passenger terminals. The larger northern terminal serves passengers from Nes Ziyyona and the science industries park. A small bus terminal was built next to the northern terminal serving south bound buses, and all northbound buses stop on Route 412, just west of the terminal. The northern terminal houses the station manager's office, the cafeteria and toilets, as well as ticket cashiers and two ticket machines. The southern terminal mostly serves passengers from the city, the Weizmann Institute and the Hebrew University's Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Studies. There is a parking lot adjacent to each terminal. Platform 1 is used for northbound trains, platform 2 for southbound trains and platform 3 is used for trains terminating at the station.
Train service
The station is situated on the Tel Aviv suburban line. All trains in this service stop at Rehovot, and some trains terminate at the station. On weekdays the station is served by 38 southbound and 38 northbound suburban trains. First train departs at 05:57 and last train arrives at 23:31.
