A through train from Vienna to Haifa, complete with sleeping cars, a kosher dining car and a radio sending and receiving station will make its first trip on Nevember 17, arriving at Haifa four days later.
The “Blue-White Express” is the result of negotiations between a local Zionist group and the Austrian traffic bureau, and will be part of the Orient Express Line, which goes through Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Syria and Mesopotamia. Stops will be made at Budapest, Belgrade, Sofia, Adrianople, Constantinople, Adana, Aleppo and Damascus.
Pioneers and middle class settlers going to Palestine will be benefitted by this service, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency was informed, since the price of the railway tickets, maintenance services included, will be comparatively low. The fare for chalutzim will be 209 schilling (195 without berth or meals), while the regular third-class rate will be 290 schilling.
Special freight trains for the transportation of valuable cargoes to Palestine and of perishable Palestinian products, such as vegetables intended for Vienna and other European cities, will also be run.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.