Train fiasco hinders protestors

A train carrying hundreds of passengers en route to the mass rally in Tel Aviv Saturday evening was forced to stop in Netanya as result of overcrowded conditions.

• Receive Ynetnews updates directly to your desktop

"The train stopped at Netanya station," northern Israel resident Ilan Berman told Ynet. "We got on board along with dozens of other people, but then we were told that the train was not going to leave the platform due to overload."

Berman said that despite requests made by the train controllers, "passengers refused to get off the train and wait for another one." Because of the overcrowded conditions, the train skipped two stations en route to Tel Aviv where hundreds of other passengers were waiting to head to the rally.

"There were a lot of people here, most of them making their way to the protest. We waited for a long time but the train never showed up," said Anat Orbach, who was waiting at the Herzliya train station. "People were very disappointed that they couldn't make it to the Tel Aviv rally."

Railway officials issued the following statement: "Israel Railway was surprised by the social protest. The high demand to travel by train to the Tel Aviv rally caused serious delays for the last few hours in the train schedules traveling along the coast from Tel Aviv to Nahariya."

The train delays were believed to have kept thousands of would-be protestors away from the Tel Aviv rally.

• Follow Ynetnews on Facebook