ERGOSE’s top-5 challenges for the initiation of major railway projects

The new management of ERGOSE is focusing on the company’s “tidying up” as well as the arrangement of outstanding issues in order for the projects’ schedule to ‘run’.

Within the first quarter of the year, it has successfully tackled complex setbacks of existing rail projects and bring forward new ones for implementation.

According to information of ypodomes.com, many challenges are to be faced, that will eventually allow the Greek railway to grow even further in the coming years.

The present

The first big challenge is the completion and operation of Kiato-Aegion railway section. Construction has been completed and the project has been initially delivered to OSE. The first safety drills to allow the tunnels to be licensed has taken place and the goal now is the commencement of train services in mid-April, in consultation with TRAINOSE. In the following days, the details will be finalized.

The second challenge is the launch, in the coming months, of 2 projects that are anticipated by the construction sector. The first is the ‘sweep contract’ that will complete Athens Central Railway Station (the so-called Phase B’). This is a mainly building project, but it also includes an overpass, the underground connection of the Railway Station with ‘Larissa Station’ Metro Station and the electrification works at the rest of the platforms.

The second project is the electrification of the single-track railway line of Larissa-Volos ,which will also mean a direct train service from Athens and Thessaloniki to the capital of Magnesia prefecture. Today Volos is served via Larissa.

The third challenge is the completion of drawn-out tenders in Kiato-Aegion section (which will complete the related projects) and Paleofarsalos-Kalambaka single-track line. These two projects are blocked in the Council of State while ERGOSE expects the relevant decisions in order to complete the bidding process and launch the construction works.

The future

The fourth challenge concerns the preparation of the tenders for the latest projects funded by NSRF 2014-2020. Most important of all are the works on SKA-Inoi section for the upgrading of the existing infrastructure and the improvement of the line’s features.

The project package is complemented by the connection of the port of Thessaloniki to the main network, the completion of all upgrades on the Aegion-Rio section and the electrification of Thessaloniki-Promachonas section (part of the European Corridor 7).

Finally, the fifth challenge is the preparation and funding of projects for the new programming period. The most important projects are located in Northern Greece and concern the upgrading of Alexandroupolis-Ormenio section, which is the Greek section of the Alexandroupoli-Burgas line, the new Thessaloniki-Kavala-Xanthi line and the completion of PATHEP railway axis with the connection of the city of Patras with the port.

There, funds from NSRF 2021-2027 as well as CEF (Connecting Europe Facility), will be also leveraged, as these are projects with large budgets.