The Thessaloniki Metropolitan Railway (Greek: Μητροπολιτικός Σιδηρόδρομος Θεσσαλονίκης Metropolitikós Sideródromos Thessaloníkes), or Thessaloniki Metro (Greek: Μετρό Θεσσαλονίκης Metró Thessaloníkes), is an underground rapid transit system under construction in Thessaloniki, Greece.
The project
The construction of the much awaited Thessaloniki metro started in June 2006 and should be completed by 2018.[1]
The first to suggest an underground railway system for Thessaloniki was Ernest Hébrard[2] during the redesign of the city in the early 1920s, to allow easy access from the city's downtown to the planned outskirts of the city (now Kalamaria).
The idea for constructing a metro was only seriously considered in the 1980s and it took almost 20 years for the official groundbreaking works to start. This was due to a series of failed contract competitions and several appeals against awarded contracts. A previous attempt to construct an underground mass transit system in Thessaloniki took place in 1986-1988, when a short cut-and cover tunnel was constructed along a part of Egnatia Avenue near the University, but failed because it was underfunded.
The first phase of the project consists of 9.6 km of underground line (with twin tunnels), 13 stations along its length, and a depot at the southeast end of the line. The total budget for the project is about 1.1 billion euro. Part of the budget (€250 million) is funded from the 3rd CSF and a loan for €250 million has been arranged with the European Investment Bank.
Phase 2 of the project was approved to begin construction prior to the operation of the Phase 1 line and in May 2009 Attiko Metro put to tender for the construction of the extension to Kalamaria. Attiko Metro claims this will prevent the construction of the transfer stations from interrupting the basic line operation.[3]
Thessaloniki's metro will share many similarities with the Copenhagen Metro. It will feature 18 AnsaldoBreda Driverless Metro trains that will run in separate tunnels in each direction, while each station will feature glass walls with automatic doors on the edge of platforms, for added safety. The project is being constructed by a Greek-Italian consortium and overseen by Attiko Metro, the company that manages the Athens Metro.
Stations planned
Phase 1 (under construction)
Thessaloniki Metro (Phases 1&2)
-
New Railway Station 
- Dimokratias
- Venizelou
- Aghia Sofia
- Sintrivani
- Panepistimio (University)
- Papafi
- Efklidi
- Fleming
- Analipseos
- Patrikiou
- Voulgari
- Nea Elvetia
Extensions
Phase 2
Construction of Phase 2 (the extensions) to Kalamaria (to the southeast) and to Efkarpia (to the north) shall begin within 2013 and be completed by 2018. Tenders for the Stavroupoli extension have not been called yet.
- Kalamaria branch (branches off at Patrikiou station)
- Stavroupoli branch (branches off at Dimokratias station)
Phase 3
Thessaloniki Metro (Phases 1, 2 & 3)
Phase 3 includes the proposals for further extensions to the Northwest and the Southeast.
Construction on this phase shall begin right after phase 2, with a completion date looking at around 2020, were it has been announced that by then the city will operate 33 km (21 mi) of metro line.[citation needed]
- Evosmos branch (branches off at New Railway Station)
- Toumpa branch (branches off at Panepistimio Station)
- Further extension of the Kalamaria branch, towards Macedonia International Airport. The plans are still under consideration, and no definitive decisions have been taken yet. Current proposals concern an overground elevated metro line after Mikra station, or a monorail service, with three intermediate stations.
Park and ride
Several park and ride facilities are planned to facilitate the large number of vehicular commuters in the city. These include two facilities at the New Railway Station with four underground levels of 450 and 600 parking spaces, 1,000 underground spaces shared over four levels at the Panepistimio (University) station and 650 underground spaces over one level at the Nea Elvetia station. A total of 3,700 park and ride spaces have been planned for Phase 1 of the project.[4]
Progress
Considerable progress has been made to the construction of the metro system since work began in 2006. Overall, 7.2 km of tunnels have been dug underneath the city, 3.8 for direction A and 3.04 for direction B.[5] As the overall length of a single tunnel is estimated to be 9.6 km, 37.5% of the entire network has already been dug. As of November 2010,[6] the following progress has been made to the stations on Phase 1 of the construction.
| Station |
Construction site |
Diaphragmatic walls |
Archaeological exc. |
Station construction |
Station formation |
| New Railway Station |
|
|
|
| Dimokratias |
|
|
|
| Venizelou |
|
|
|
| Agias Sofias |
|
|
|
| Sintrivani |
|
|
|
| Panepistimio (University) |
|
|
|
| Papafi[7] |
|
|
| Eukleidi[8] |
|
|
| Fleming |
|
|
|
| Analipseos |
|
|
|
| Patrikiou |
|
|
|
| Voulgari |
|
| Nea Elvetia |
|
|
- Completed
- Underway
- Not started
Gallery
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Work in front of the New Railway Station.
-
Construction site from the inside of a tunnel.
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The inside of a Thessaloniki Metro tunnel while still under construction.
See also
References
External links
Macedonia International Airport
Media related to Thessaloniki metro at Wikimedia Commons
