Athens Suburban Railway: Project studies for network’s extension to Rafina and Lavrio, prioritized

A document from the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Infrastructure to OSE and ERGOSE, dictated the formation of a nine-member commitee that will be responsible for concluding the rigorous procedures for the extension of Athens Suburban Railway to Lavrio (Koropi-Lavrio) and Rafina (Airport-Rafina).

This is the first move by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to keep the two projects alive, especially after EU’s refusal to incorporate them in NSRF, as they did not meet the eligibility criteria. The application has been submitted not for the project itself, but for its studies, in order to be able to proceed in the next phase.

“Big news”

From the Ministry’s relevant document, what seems to be definitively decided, is that Rafina will connect by train through the Airport and not through the existent infrastructure that runs accross Attiki Motorway up to Pikermi.

According to information available at Ypodomes.com, technical works are expected to be easier with less expropriations while the extension will be covering the areas of Spata, Porto Rafti, reaching the Port of Rafina, which this year is expected to exceed 2mn passengers.

According to other documentation by ERGOSE, funding will be sought, regarding the maturing studies, from the national section of the Public Investment Program in order for them to be tendered and and launched in the near future.

The road ahead

It can be easily assumed that we are talking about projects with time-consuming procedures pending ahead of them. Project studies must be finalized as well as their environmental licensing allowing it to proceed in the funding-seeking process, either from a future CEF package or a major redistribution of available NSRF funds in 2019. Either way, it is highly unlikely for the construction works to commence before 2020.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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