Athens Suburban Railway: Electrification works are transforming Piraeus Station

It is just before summer and the electrification works for Athens-Piraeus railway section finally seem to be under completion. The contract, which was signed in October 2015 for a construction period of 10 months was extended to be delivered in the fall of 2017 marking a year’s delay.

After the project’s completion Athens-Piraeus will be covered in a double track, electrified line and Piraeus will be able to serve itineraries of both suburban and intercity trains as a terminal station. The commercial potentials of the line will be also evaluated by the Italian Ferrovie, which will decide how the trains will be moving on the specific section that currently has very low passenger traffic.

More trains means that, after many years and in conjunction with the Port, the Metro, the Tram and the bus lines serving the area around the station, Piraeus will be transformed in the biggest transportation hub of Athens’ metropolitan area and Attica region in general. This of course is good news both for tourists and the local population as they will be saving considerable time, avoiding changes, often between more than one means of transport, to reach the Port, the Airport etc.

A characteristic example of the improvement in the urban transportations system this electrification will brin,g is the fact that the approach of Piraeus Port will not be necessarily made via the Metro system with multiple changes (between Lines 1 and 2 for example) but directly with the use of a train from Larissa Station towards Piraeus terminal, something that could save substantial time and relieve the burdened Metro lines.

Currently Piraeus Station accepts trains from Chalkida, a route that faces several problems that have caused the service to be quite rare, i.e. one itinerary every 2(!) hours.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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