Athens Metro Line 3: TBM just a few meters away from the penultimate station of the extension

We are now just a few months away from the completion of the tunnelling works for the underground station of Piraeus (currently terminal of Line 1). According to information provided by Attiko Metro S.A, TBM is less than 200 meters away from Piraeus Station. According to their estimations, TBM should arrive at the station around mid-September, where it will pause its operation, for a few weeks, for necessary maintenance.

According to Attiko Metro’s planning, when TBM starts again, it will need, roughly, another 3 months until it reaches the extension’s terminal, the Municipal Theater Station (Dimotiko Theatro) and a few more weeks to resurface out of Deligiannis Well. After all that, it will have dug an overall 7.6 km of new tunnel.

The key point of the projects is Piraeus Station. As Ypodomes.com had revealed to you first, the excavation of the station’s surface will begin after TBM has completed its drilling, for safety reasons. This is expected to happen around October 2017 with the specific works being completed by the end of 2018. It is reminded that delays in the completion of all relevant works has equalled 3 years of painful postponements regarding the operation not only of Piraeus Station but also Maniatika and Dimotiko Theatro stations.

At this stage, insulation walls have been constructed to protect the TBM from the incoming water flows, as the station is located next to Port and below the sea surface.

With regard to the first 3 stations, efforts are made for them to operate in 2019; nevertheless, great mobilization will be needed by the contractors for this scenario to be realized. Good news is that construction works in the first 3 stations have progressed considerably and the completion of the tunnelling will allow the initiation of superstructure works (i.e. tracks’ installation) that will essentially connect Aghia Marina Station (terminal of Line 3 to the West) with the new set of stations (Aghia Varvara, Nikea, Koridallos for the first phase of operation).

It is noted that the extension project started in January 2012, with the original time frame of the extension’s release being in 2017. Problems that came up in the meantime caused multiple delays with the new stations planned to become available to the public in 2019, at best. The contractor of the project is  J&P AVAX-GHELLA-ALSTOM J/V. The same consortium is also one of the contenders for the “golden contract” for the construction of the new Athens Metro Line 4, which is expected to start in 2019.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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