Athens Central Railway Station ushers into the future with major upgrade works

Athens Central Railway Station is now able to accept long (up to 13 carriages) high speed trains in 3 of its platforms, the longest of which is 459 meters, followed by 2 platforms 407 and 312 meters long.

Also, new spacious elevators and automatic staircases have been installed. Nevertheless, these upgrades concern… half of the Athens Central Station. For the second half, tenders are about to take place and will be probably announced in the following days. It is noted that these tenders concern projects for the station’s infrastructure (i.e. electrification, tracks, signalling etc.) and not the building facilities which will be managed and refurbished by the concessionaire.

The project for the second half of the station has a total cost of 41mn euros and has secured funding from NSRF 2014-2020. Among the very important projects that we are about to see is the demolition and replacement of the remaining old platforms along with their replacement. Needless to say that, when finished, the station will be fully electrified.

What is great for the passengers is the fact that there will be an underground connection of the Railway Station to the existing Athens Metro Line 2 Station (Larissa Station). For the smooth operation of the trains, the contract will include the completion of Pelopos Street flyover, at the southern side of the Station, which is currently troubling the flow of trains.

The same contract also includes the demolition of the old, underground pedestrian passage, its replacement with multiple overground passages,the finalization of all remaining electromechanical works, the restoration and upgrade of the area’s traffic infrastructure and the station’s building stock with complementary road works, water works and renovations of all facilities.

Provided that works commence by Autumn 2018, they are expected to be completed by the end of 2020, transforming the station’s look even more. These projects along with “Sepolia Tunnel”, which will be launched soon, can transform the area into a metropolitan transport centre, suitable for multiple commercial uses such as catering, tourism and other services.

The question which is still present is the utilization of the station, which will probably have to wait for the completion of the aforementioned projects and then step forward towards a plan (or not) based on the standards of other European capitals, that could transform it into a commercial, multifunctional centre.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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