The Bridge and the Railway Tunnel at Rosh Hanikra
The Bridge and the Railway Tunnel are part of the rail tracks Haifa - Beirut - Tripoli, established by the British Mandate Government during the Second World War.
This was done to connect the Israeli and Lebanese rail networks and to establish a continuous rail network from Egypt via Sinai, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey to Europe. The project was made possible in summer 1941 after the fall of the Vichy Government in France, who were in power in the Lebanon.
There is a second tunnel whose entrance can be seen on the northern side of the site. This tunnel exits in Lebanon and leads to a third tunnel entirely in Lebanon. The bridge and tunnels were all constuded by engineering units of the British Army from South Africa and New Zealand. The building of the system took about one year and it was opened for passenger and freight rail traffic on 24.8.1942.
In 1947, the British decided to open a civilian passenger service on this line, but this decision was never implemented.
At the end of 1947, the Israeli War of Independence broke out and Western Galilee was cut off from the rest of the country. lt was feared that the Arab forces would use the situatfon to bring volunteers and arms by rail from Lebanon to aid their forces In Haifa.
On the night of 14.3.1948, under cover of darkness and cloudy weather, a sabotage unit of the "CarmeI Division" of the "Hagana" entered the tunnel and the grotto bridge (under the noses of British Police in their station, today the Youth Hostel at Rosh HaNiqra). The Unit blew up the western end of the Bridge, as can seen today.