Thessaloniki Metro

Thessaloniki Metro Μετρό Θεσσαλονίκης
Background
Owner	Attiko Metro A.E.
Locale	Thessaloniki, Greece
Transit type	Rapid transit
Number of lines	1 (2015) 1 with extensions (when finished)
Number of stations	13 (2015) 35 (when finished)
Operation
Operation will start	2015
Number of vehicles	18 AnsaldoBreda Driverless Metro
Technical
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard)
Thessaloniki Metro map

The Thessaloniki Metropolitan Railway (Greek: Μητροπολιτικός Σιδηρόδρομος Θεσσαλονίκης), or Thessaloniki Metro (Greek: Μετρό Θεσσαλονίκης), 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 in 2015. The first to suggest an underground railway system for Thessaloniki was Ernest Hébrard 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 an almost 20 years for the official groundbreaking works to start. This was due to a series of failed contract competitions and several appeals to awarded contracts. 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.

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

Thessaloniki Metro (Phases 1&2)
Line length: 19.6 km (12.2 mi) Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend
Efkarpia Polichni Stavroupoli Pavlou Mela New Railway Station Neapoli Dimokratias Venizelou Agias Sophias Sintrivani Panepistimio Papafi Efkleidi Fleming Analipseos Patrikiou Nomarchia (to be renamed) Voulgari* Kalamaria Nea Elvetia Aretsou Pylaia Depot Nea Krini Mikra

Phase 1 (under construction)

• Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos (New Railway Station)
• Dimokratias
• Venizelou
• Agia Sofia
• Sintrivani
• Panepistimio (University)
• Papafi
• Efklidi
• Fleming
• Analipseos
• Patrikiou
• Voulgari
• Nea Elvetia

Extensions

Construction of Phase 2 (the extensions) to Kalamaria (to the southeast) and to Efkarpia (to the north) shall begin before completion of the basic (New Railway Station-Nea Elvetia) line of Phase 1, with projected completion dates of 2016 and 2018 respectively.

Tenders for the Kalamaria extension have been called in on 10 July 2009, with a budget of €400 million, while tenders for the Stavroupoli extension have yet to be called.

Phase 2

• Kalamaria branch (branches off at Patrikiou station)
  • Nomarchia
  • Kalamaria
  • Aretsou
  • Nea Krini
  • Mikra
• Stavroupoli branch (branches off at Dimokratias station)
  • Neapoli
  • Pavlou Mela
  • Stavroupoli
  • Polichni
  • Efkarpia
  • Papageorgiou Hospital (Phase 3)

Phase 3

Thessaloniki Metro (Phases 1, 2 & 3)
Track gauge: 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Legend
Papageorgiou Kordelio/Evosmos* Efkarpia Evosmos Polichni Menemeni Stravroupoli Ampelokipoi Pavlou Mela New Railway Station Neapoli Dimokratias Venizelou Agias Sophias Sintrivani Panepistimio Papafi Toumba Efkleidi Charilaou Fleming Nea Elvetia* Analipseos Patrikiou Nomarchia (to be renamed) Voulgari* Kalamaria Nea Elvetia* Aretsou Pylaia Depot Nea Krini Mikra Macedonia International Airport

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. All information contained in this section is tetnative and subject to change or cancellation at any time.^{[citation needed]}

• Evosmos branch (branches off at New Railway Station)
  • Ampelokipoi
  • Menemeni
  • Evosmos
  • Kordelio/Evosmos

• Toumba branch (branches off at Panepistimio Station)
  • Toumba
  • Charilaou
  • Nea Elvetia

• 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 four intermediate stations.
  • Unnamed station near the Hellenic Army War School
  • Unnamed station near IKEA
  • Unnamed station near the Thermi junction
  • Unnamed station near the casino
  • Macedonia International Airport

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.

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. 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, the following progress has been made to the stations on Phase 1 of the construction.

Station	Construction site	Electricity/water network	Diaphragmatic walls	Archaeological exc.	Station construction	Electronic equipment	Architectural works
New Railway Station
Dimokratias
Venizelou
Agias Sofias
Sintrivani
Panepistimio (University)
Papafi
Eukleidi
Fleming
Analypseos
Patrikiou
Voulgari
Nea Elvetia

•      Completed
•      Underway
•      Suspended
•      Not started

Gallery

• 

  Work in front of the New Railway Station.

• 

  Construction site from the inside of a tunnel.

• 

  The inside of a Thessaloniki Metro tunnel while still under construction.

See also

• Athens Metro
• List of rapid transit systems
• Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organization

External links

• Attiko Metro S.A. - Thessaloniki Metro
  • Maps
  • (Greek) Maps: [1] [2]
• UrbanRail.Net - Thessaloniki Metro
• Media related to Thessaloniki metro at Wikimedia Commons