GREECE | Railways

[Skaros]

Everything about greek railway projects...

I hope there is no a similar thread otherwise dear mods please merge them.

[Skaros]

Athens - Patras new railway line
(partially completed - under construction the section Corinth-Patras)

Some news about this project of very high importance since the railway network of Peloponnese was actually abandoned for many decades.

The new line will replace the current metric gauge single line.
It is designed for speeds of 200 Km/h for the section Athens-Corinth-Lygia
150 Km/h for the section Lygia-Aegion , and 100-150 Km/h for the final section (and the most difficult) Aegion-Patras.
The electrification is designed for speeds up to 250 Km/h.

Completed (March 2007)

Untill now it is completed and in use the section Athens (SKA- Aharcnes Traffic Center) - Corinth (80 Km).

Ready untill JUly 2007
Till the summer will be ready the section Corinth-Kiato (21Km).

Under construction :

The next section (112 km total length) is divided in two parts :

1) Kiato - Aegion (71 Km) is under construction and it will be ready in 2010.The cost of the project is 578 million €

2) Aegion - Patras (41 Km) will be ready in 2013.The cost of the project is 423 million €

The electrification of the section Athens-Corinth-Kiato will be ready in 2009 while the rest part (untill Patras) will be ready in 2013.

And some photos....

Hagioi Theodoroi tunnel



Kakia Skala Tunnel



Coastal bridge near Megara





Isthmus of Corinth bridge



Nea Peramos Station



Corinth Railway station





Kineta railway station



Kiato railway station (not yet finished)

[Tubeman]

A brand new passenger railway built without electrification?

[Giorgio]

I wasn't aware that these where the trains being used on this line.

[Skaros]

Originally Posted by Tubeman

A brand new passenger railway built without electrification?

Tubeman thats right!
Actually the line is designed to be electrified (and there are allready bought new electric DMUs) but there were huge delays.(various reasons not to mention now)
The electrification will be ready (according to ERGOSE) in 2009.
The only finished work is the line from the Airport untill Neratziotissa station (Athens)



@Giorgo the trains that are in use currently for this line are STADLER DMUs and for the small electrified part DESIROs

[Skaros]

An interesting part of the procedure of building new railway lines in Greece is the cases of unexpected discoveries of antiquities.
In such cases the relevant Antiquities Councils carry out excavations at ERGOSE’s expense, and the further actions and technical solutions are adopted on a case by case basis, also taking under consideration the importance of the findings.

So happened during the construction of the new line Athens-Corinth there were many discoveries of important antiquities :

In the Isthmus – Ancient Corinth section of the Elefsina – Corinth line, the new railway line intersects with the Justinian Wall. In the 6th century AD Justinian showed a special interest in the safety of Corinth and built the well-known wall along the Isthmus of Corinth, many parts of which are still preserved. ERGOSE has taken all necessary measures in order to protect and display the Justinian Wall.
In particular, a railway bridge was constructed over the wall, with a span of 72 m, and the space around the monument was formed – remodelled in order to better display and protect the wall.

Also in the region of Corinth and Sikiona large scale excavations are carried out.

Findings discovered during excavations near Corinth at Corinth railway station :

[Tubeman]

Originally Posted by Skaros

Tubeman thats right!
Actually the line is designed to be electrified (and there are allready bought new electric DMUs) but there were huge delays.(various reasons not to mention now)
The electrification will be ready (according to ERGOSE) in 2009.
The only finished work is the line from the Airport untill Neratziotissa station (Athens)

Fair enough. It did seem a bit strange...

2 of our intercity mainline routes are still diesel in the UK, so we can hardly talk (Midland Mainline beyond Bedford and the entire Great Western network to the SW and Wales).

[frozen]

Thanks for this post! I really interested in Greek railway and Greece in general, i think spanish and greeks are very similar. Well done!

[Skaros]

@tubeman thanbks for the info , i did not know that there are still not electrified lines in UK

@Frozen thank you friend! Well to say the truth we are very far behind in railway infrastructure but something is moving the last years , Spain is a model for Greece!

and some more good news!!

Diakofto - Kalavryta rack railway



[b]The narrowest rack railways in Europe and the only one in Greece. It dates back to 1896.
Its length is 23 Km and the last 50 years it had not seen any investment or upgrade.
Finally the greek state decided to upgrade the track (though without changing its width) and ordered 4 new rack DMUs from the swiss expert industry in rack railways STADLER.
The first new trainset was delivered and untill the end the end of 2008 the line will be again fully operational with the new trains!

From www.Stadler.com

The Greek federal railways OSE have ordered 4 new three-part tourist trains for the railway line from Diakofto to Kalavryta on the Peloponnesus. The existing rolling stock, which is over 40 years old, is to be replaced on the existing, 22.3 km long rack railway in the north of the Peloponnesus. This railway construction has an extremely narrow gauge track of only 750 mm and runs from the scenic coastal town of Diakofto up to the mountainous hiking area of Kalavryta. Diesel traction allows the tourist trains to overcome a difference of 700 m in height over 3 rack sections. The new, lightweight Stadler rack railcars are built with very low axle loads, tailored to this narrow gauge route, which is unique in the world

This is the currently used very old trains (www.railfaneurope.net)



And these are the new trainsets!




The photo above is the first new rack DMU (taken from www.railfaneurope.net)

[Skaros]

Project:
“Construction of Aegio Tunnel in the Kiato –
Aegio section of the Athens – Patras High-Speed Railway Line”

Budget: € 72,6 million

Contractual amount: € 53,57 million
Signing date: 24/5/2006
Contractor: “J/V TERNA SA – MOCHLOS SA – AKTOR SA”
Implementation time: 34 months

The above project includes the construction of the following:
• Aegio double-track tunnel, 3252 m long, with 3 escape adits totalling 805 m
• 3 Cover & Cuts, totalling 265,85 m, at the entrance and exit of the main tunnel
• 3 pilewalls, totalling 368,05 m (West drive)
• 1 Overpass (ΤΟ3), 32 m long (East drive).
The underground alignment runs under “Kouloura” area and then, bypassing the city of Egio, reaches the area of “Kouniniotis” factory.

Under construction (March 2007) Aegio double-track railway tunnel



Escape tunnel (March 2007)

[Kuvvaci]

very huge project...

will Patras Athens be line "high speed"?

[Skaros]

Kuvvaci it will not be high-speed by west european standards, but for Greece (which lacks of good railway network) sure it will be.
The website of ERGOSE (www.ergose.gr) (Ergose is responsible for the new projects) informs us that :

The modernization programme of the Athens (SKA) – Patras railway corridor includes the construction of a new double-track standard gauge railway line from Acharnes Traffic Center (SKA) to Patras, in replacement of the existing single-track metric gauge line.

Maximum train speed will reach 200 km/hour along most of the new line (Athens – Corinth – Ligia), 150 km/hour in the Ligia – Egio section and 100 – 150 km/hour in the Egio – Patras section.

The projects’ progress in the ATHENS (SKA) – KIATO section is as follows:

The 80 km long railway line in the Athens (SKA) – Corinth section was opened to traffic in September 2005, whereas the remaining works in the areas of all stations are scheduled for completion in 2007.

In the 21 km long Corinth – Kiato section, construction works are in progress and the double-track line section is scheduled for completion in June 2007.
When the remaining planned investment projects are completed in the KIATO – PATRAS section, the entire corridor will consist of a standard gauge line, thus ensuring complete interoperability of the Athens – Patras corridor with the Central and Northern Greece network.

Regarding electrification :



So as you see they use the word "high speed" though it is not so high in some cases. Also there is a confusion since the electrification enables speeds of 250 km/h but the track (?) does not.I dont get this ,perhaps its for security reasons , or someone who knows about reailways can explain.
It is announced that after the completion of the works the distance Athens-Patras will be covered in a total time of 2 hours which is an improvement from the current 3 and a half hours that someone needs today (though i was expecting less time for such much money spent)
Though there will be many tunnels unfortunatelly the terrain of north Peloponnese (especially in Achaia region) is so difficult that the trains will not be able to reach speeds of 200 km/h the last 50 kms.

[Coccodrillo]

Originally Posted by Skaros

Though there will be many tunnels

The longest being about 20 km long, isn'it?

A map: http://bueker.net/trainspotting/maps_greece.php

[Mattboy]

Very interesting! There seems to be lots of projects in Greece right now, with new lines and upgrades. If the map at bueker is correct, you are electrifying the whole Athens-Thessaloliki line. Tell us about it, please! :-D

[hp500hp]

Love the color scheme of the buildings
but how can they use wooden sleepers in this time and age?

[Geokioy]

Dear Mattboy, the map you found on the net is correct!!

[Skaros]

Love the color scheme of the buildings
but how can they use wooden sleepers in this time and age?

Geia sou Hp500hp!
i am also surprised , in most new stations they use pre-stressed concrete sleepers , a possible explanation is that the specific track shown in the picture is the one used from the metric gauge old line (since from the new Corinth station begins the single track metric line which continues to the rest of Peloponnese.)

Very interesting! There seems to be lots of projects in Greece right now, with new lines and upgrades. If the map at bueker is correct, you are electrifying the whole Athens-Thessaloliki line. Tell us about it, please! :-D

Mattboy the whole electrification project is an old story which has allready costed millions of euro and still no electric trainsets are used.
We all hope that it is possible in the next 5-6 years to see at least a 80% of the line to be electrified.

The longest being about 20 km long, isn'it?

A map: http://bueker.net/trainspotting/maps_greece.php

Coccodrillo the map is accurate but the information about the tunnel is false.
The longest railway tunnel project (under construction) is the Kallidromon mountain twin tunnels in central Greece , (each tube has length 9.2 Km)

[Geokioy]

Some photos from the greek fleet of trains that are currently (2007) in use

Suburbun Trains Aroun Athens and Thessaloniki







Trains For Larissa, Thessaloniki and general northern Greece:



Trains in Peloponnese (for Patras,Olympia, Pyrgos, Kalamata, Nafplio)



All the above trains are air-conditioned, but have diesel engines. Up to now (April 2007) there are only some exceptions, such as the lines Neratziotissa-Athens Airport, Thessaloniki-Skopje and Thessaloniki-Sofia, which do use electric powered trains. However the improvement continuous...

useful internet sites in greek and english
www.ose.gr
www.ergose.gr
www.proastiakos.gr

[Geokioy]

And some photos from railway stations around Greece. The majority of them are very old, but also very beautiful due to ther architectural style and colors and were built the last half of the 19th century...

Peloponnese Station in Athens. This used to be the start point for trains going to peloponnese.



Mucynes


Argos (before Nafplio)


Tripoli


Pyrgos


Olympia


Now the Peloponnese Station is closed and it will be transformed to a museum. The trains for peloponnese leave from Larissa station as happens also for the trains that travel to northern Greece.

Athens Central Railway Station or Larissa Station (destinations for all of Greece:2007)



Chalkida


Volos


Thessaloniki Railway Station



Ksanthi

[Geokioy]

In conclusion I'd like to say that do travel with train in Greece. Travel is very comfortable (especially with InterCity and Express InterCity trains) and trains pass through marvelous landscapes, gorges, mountains, forests and rivers...you will see a differernt aspect of Greece!!! Islands and ships is only one part of Greece very advertised all this years!!! Try the different and discover mainland Greece by train!!!