Four contenders to claim the “golden” contract for Athens new Metro Line 4

Four contenders finally participated in the first phase of the tender for the construction of the Athens new Metro Line 4 (Veikou Grove-Goudi). According to confirmed reports these are: 1. TERNA-VINCI-SIEMENS, 2. AKTOR-ANSALDOBREDA-HITACHI, 3. J&P AVAX-GHELLA-ALSTOM and 4. MYTILINEOS-FCC-ARCHIRODON.

The aforementioned joint ventures with their expression of interest are sending a strong message for an intense “all-star” tender. The tender was initially set to be held on June 30 but was postponed three times. The third and final postponement set the crucial date for today, August 10, 2017, thus revealing the interested parties.

Implementing entity of Line 4’s construction, Attiko Metro, however, had anticipated high-profile participations that would add prestige to the country’s emerging mega-project, right from the beginning. According to safe information provided at Ypodomes.com, the target is for the evaluation of all interested parties to be completed by early 2018, allowing the project to proceed in the technical and financial offers’ submissions shortly after.

If everything progresses as expected, next summer we will be ready to find out the contractor that has secured the golden contract and, after a pre-contractual period lasting several months (appeals, Court of Auditors, ratification of the contract by the Parliament), everything will be ready for the final signatures, sometime in 2019.

It is noted that the project for the construction of Athens Metro Line 4 is the largest metro-related project of all times in Greece, surpassing in terms of scope and budget, Lines 2 and 3 combined, back in the early 1990s. This of course has created considerable mobility among leading construction companies in Europe and Greece, as well as companies specialized in electromechanical equipment and trains’ procurement.

New Athens Metro Line 4 will not be very similar to existing Lines 2 and 3, from a technical point of view. All stations will be having a platform length of 110 meters, equipped with safety doors that will be opening upon trains’ arrivals. The total cost is estimated at 1.8bn euros (1.45bn excl. VAT) while works are expected to last roughly 8 years. Trains will be fully automatic and driverless (just Line Thessaloniki Metro) while the new control center will be constructed along with the 13-km-long new line. 

Line 4 will be covering most of the densely populated areas of the capital starting from Galatsi, Kypseli, Gizi, Alexandra’s Ave., Exarchia, Akadimia, Kolonaki heading to Evangelismos, Ilisia, Zografou, Near East, Kessariani and finally Goudi, a few hundred meters from Mesogion Ave. Athens Metro Line 4 will be serving 220,000 passengers daily. A request for the incorporation of a new station (Parnithos St.) in Kypseli area has been filed to Attiko Metro by residents, which will be assessed in the following period. Future extensions of the line to the Northwest and the Southeast, are also under consideration but are still lacking necessary funding.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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