The railways of Greece have a complex history which begin in 1869, with the completion of the then Athens & Piraeus Railway, with parts of it also becoming the second-oldest underground metro system in the world.
Greece is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Greece is 73.
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Greece became independent in 1832, the birth of the newly formed sovereign state coinciding with the start of the railway era. By 1835 plans were being put to the Greek state to construct a railway line from Athens to the port of Piraeus. 22 years later, in 1857, a contract for its construction was signed and the work commenced. It took four different companies a further twelve years to lay the 8.8 kilometres of track, the work being completed in 1869.[1]
The social and economic structure of Greece towards the end of the 19th century was founded on the collection of small agricultural towns acting as marketplaces and economic centres for the villages that surrounded them. Back then Greece had very little industry and a few roads, which made the government think for the development of a railway system that would go towards addressing the lack of internal and external communication that existed. In 1881 the Prime Minister, Alexandros Koumoundouros signed four contracts for the laying of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge lines, with the intention to make Greece a pivotal point on the journey between Europe, India and Asia.
In the following year, 1882, Koumoundouros was replaced by Charilaos Trikoupis as Prime Minister, who cancelled the contracts, replacing them with four of his own. He had a different political vision for the railways, seeing them as a way of stimulating the internal growth of Greece and proposed for a 417 km narrow gauge (1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in)) system encircling the Northern Peloponnese, with a separate system in Thessaly; linking the port of Volos with the town of Kalambaka on the other side of the Thessalian plain. There was also a line of 76 km to be laid from Athens to Lavrio, on the peninsula of Eastern Attica. Trikoupis preferred narrow gauge over standard gauge due to cheaper initial construction costs, although the line linking Athens to Larissa, which was planned to eventually join with the European system, was constructed to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) Standard gauge. The network took 25 years to complete, 20 years longer than the 5 anticipated by Trikoupis.
By 1909, 1,606 km. of track had been laid, including the main standard gauge line to the then Greek - Turkish border at Papapouli, past the Tempi valley (400 km north of Athens). The first trains to run the full 506 kilometres from Athens to Thessaloniki on standard gauge track marked the completion of the line in 1918, which by then was running entirely on Greek territory.
The Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) was founded in 1971, taking over from the Hellenic State Railways. Since then, the network of Greece's railways has been extensively modernised and parts of it have been electrified, notably between the cities of Thessaloniki and Larissa; and Athens' International Airport and Kiato.
Piraeus - Monastiraki - Iraklio - Lavrio - Kifissia
The first railway line that operated in Greece was the one connecting Athens and Piraeus, which opened in 1869. It ran for a distance of 8 km from the port of Piraeus to Thissio in Athens. It was later extended to Omonoia Square in 1895 and electrified in 1904, with the 600V DC third rail system. From 1911 it was also possible to run through freight trains on the Piraeus Harbor Tramway using dual system electric locomotives.
Another company, Attica Railways in 1885, ran a metre gauge suburban line from Lavrio Square to the north of Omonoia Square and to Iraklio (a northern suburb). It involved a section of street running, along the present 3 September Street, from Lavrio Square to Attiki Square, beyond which it ran on a dedicated trackbed. At Iraklio, the line forked to form two suburban branches. One went further north via Maroussi to Kifissia and Strofyli, with a freight only extension to Dionyssos marble quaries. The other branch ran eastwards to Vrilissia (at a point very near to the present Plakentias station) and then southwards to the villages Peania, Koropi, Marcopoulo, Kalyvia, Keratea, Kamariza and its terminus at the mining town of Lavrio.
In 1926, the Hellenic Electric Railways S.A. (Ελληνικοί Ηλεκτρικοί Σίδηρόδρομοι, ΕΗΣ), a new company, created by the co-operation of Attica Railways S.A. and the English "Power Group", took over operation of the two lines Piraeus-Athens and Omonia and Attiki-Kifissia-Strofyli. In 1929 SPAP (Piraeus, Athens and Peloponnese Railways) took over the Iraklio - Lavrio branch line. The Athens terminal for Lavrio was moved from Lavrio Square to Athens Peloponnese Station.[1] To join the Lavrio line to its network, SPAP built a connection between Agioi Anargyroi (Kato Liosia) and Iraklio (1931). The Lavrio line was eventually closed in 1957, due to political pressures from the road lobby.[2]
The line from Attiki Square to Kifissia operated as a steam locomotive hauled railway with numerous level crossings until 1938. The line was subsequently rebuilt in electrified dual track standard gauge without level crossings, connected to the electrified Athens-Pireus (EIS) line at Omonoia, and reopened to Kifissia in 1957. The extension to Strofyli was abandoned.
A number of railway lines were constructed mainly by mining operations and by extensive industrial facilities. There were also a few temporary lines, used for the construction of major public works. Most of them were either metre gauge or 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in).[3]
During World War I, after the collapse of Serbia, Eastern Macedonia was occupied by German and Bulgarian forces and Central and Western Macedonia by French and British troops, thus establishing the Macedonian front. The French and British troops and their Greek allies had extensive military logistics facilities in and around Thessaloniki. Supplies had to be transported to the various front line units. As World War I fronts were relatively static, it was possible to construct railway lines for this purpose. Almost all of these lines were of the Decauville system with a 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge. Some of these lines were completely isolated from existing lines while others started at mainline railway stations.[4]
The most important such railways were the following:[5][6]
Currently the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) owns and maintains the following lines:[8]
Major rail network
These lines are electrified with the 25 kV AC 50 Hz system.
Minor rail network
Peloponnese metre gauge network
Tourist rail network
Mainline, suburban and freight train services on OSE lines are operated and provided by TrainOSE S.A., a former OSE subsidiary which is now an independent state-owned company. TrainOSE also operates the suburban and commuter rail services (called Proastiakos) on a modernised network around the cities of Athens and Thessaloniki. Proastiakos was founded as a separate company, which became later part of TrainOSE.
Due to the financial problems of Greece TrainOSE has come to suspend regional services on following lines:[9]
Since 13th February 2011, due to the Greek financial crisis and subsequent budget cuts by the Greek government, all international services have been suspended.[10]
Athens Metro consists of two underground lines (lines 2 & 3) in Athens' Metropolitan area. The system is owned by Attiko Metro S.A. and is operated by Attiko Metro Etareia Leitourgias S.A. or AMEL. Athens Metro trains also reach Athens International Airport over electrified OSE lines that are also used by the Proastiakos service.
In 1976 the Hellenic Electric Railways S.A. (EIS, Greek ΕΗΣ), which run the Piraeus - Kifissia line and the Piraeus-Perama light railway were nationalized and the company was given its current name Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways S.A. (ISAP, Greek ΗΣΑΠ). The Piraeus-Perama light railway line was closed in 1977.
Today ISAP operates the electrified standard gauge urban rail line from Piraeus to Kifissia; and as such the line is also commonly referred to as Athens' Metro Line 1, although it is operated separately. In 2008 the Greek Government announced plans to construct an extension of the ISAP line from Kifissia to the suburb of Agios Stefanos (formerly Oion).
The construction of Thessaloniki metro began in 2006 and Phase 1 of the project is expected to be complete in late 2014. The 9.6 km line will be owned and operated by Attiko Metro S.A..
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