Israel’s railway system reopened Monday morning, after a nearly three-month hiatus.
The Israeli government imposed a shutdown of the train system in late March, following a series of coronavirus outbreaks in Israel early in the pandemic.
Now, 89 days later, Israel Railways, the state-owned passenger and freight train system, resumed commuter train service Monday morning.
But trains were largely empty Monday, with few Israelis buying tickets for first day of the Railways’ reopening.
Just 38,000 tickets were sold for Monday, including pre-sales, Yediot Aharonot reported. Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, the train system averaged a total of 250,000 tickets sold each day.
On Sunday, the Defense Ministry announced that IDF soldiers are still not permitted to use the train, a decision which heavily impacted the number of passengers Monday.
Government restrictions also limit the number of passengers permitted on each train, with a maximum of 500 passengers allowed onto each train, in comparison with the standard maximum capacity of 800 to 1,000.
Passengers are required to wear face masks at all times, and are prohibited from eating or drinking on the trains.