Athens Suburban Railway: Direct “electrified” itineraries between Athens to Corinth and the Airport to commence next week

It is a small step for the railway but giant leap forward for Athens Suburban Railway. That would be a good description regarding how Suburban Railway’s itineraries will look like from next Monday, July 31.

The installation and operation of the electrified line to Athens Central Railway Station will affect all routes from Monday, according to safe information provided at Ypodomes.com. Direct “electrified” itineraries will be starting from Athens to Kiato, Athens to the Airport, Athens to Chalkida and vice versa.

It is noted that nothing will be changing, for the time being, in the frequency of the trains or the ticket prices. Let’s see them in detail.

Athens-Kiato

The new itinerary will be starting from Athens Central Railway Station (Larissa Station) and will be going directly to Corinth and Kiato by calling at all stations in between. This means that, finally, passengers will not have to go to Ano Liosia to take a second train either to Kiato or to Athens.

According to sources from TRAINOSE SA, the direct train connecting Kiato and the Airport will be abolished. Passengers who want to move from Kiato or other stations across the prefectures of Corinth and Attica (before Acharnai area) towards the Airport, will have to change train in Kato Acharnai Station.

Athens-Airport

After a decade, Athens-Airport direct service finally returns. This route will essentially mean, much better service for passengers staying near Suburban Railway’s stations who will be able to take the train every 30 minutes to reach El. Venizelos Airport in about 35 minutes.

This means that, after many years, Athens Airport will be directly connected to the Central Railway Station of the city and will be allowing passengers to continue their journey within the region without any intermediate transits.

Piraeus-Athens-Chalkida

Changes will be also made to the route to Chalkida. According to sources from TRAINOSE at Ypodomes.com, the route will be starting from Piraeus, in Athens there is going to be a switch to an electric train that will, from that point and on, continue to Chalkida.

Nevertheless, this minor inconvinience will last for just a few more months when electrification works are going to be completed up to Piraeus Station, allowing the “electrified” itineraries to start directly from the Port.

Steps of progress for Athens Suburban Railway

This is clearly the most important development in years for Athens Suburban Railway network as with the launch of the new electrified routes, it will become much faster, safer and more frequent, covering more efficiently the urban grid which is now, virtually unutilized.

The utilization of electrification will signify instantly, lower operating costs while it is expected to attract more passengers due to improved services. Works are expected to be completed by the end of the year, concluding the current phase of the related projects.

The next phase includes additional works in Athens Central Railway Station; i.e. a direct underground connection to the Metro Station (Larissa Station) and the contract for Sepolia Railway Tunnel.

 

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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