Athens Suburban Railway: tender for Western Attica extension announced

The announcement of the tender for the project of the new suburban railway line of Western Attica is now a fact. The project is now up for tender and the participation it will generate is expected with great interest. The Contracting Authority is OSE SA. while the project is in the Athens Suburban expansion program by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.

The project is carried out on the existing line branch and concerns the upgrading of the existing SG Suburban Railway of Western Attica, section: Ano Liosia – Neos R.S. Megaron to P.S. Megaron (project section with option). The cost of the project has been estimated at an amount including VAT of 132.61 million euros (amount without VAT of 106.95 million euros).

The tender of the project is scheduled for January 24, 2023 and on the 26th of the month the unsealing of the bids will take place. This is the largest railway project that OSE has tendered in two decades.

It concerns the construction of a new 36 km long line to the west of Athens, from Ano Liosia to Megaron Railway Station, serving the residential areas of Aspropyrgos, Elefsina, Loutropyrgos, as well as Neraki, Nea Peramos and Megaron. The new railway stations are: ELPE Aspropyrgos, Aspropyrgos, Vamvakia, Elefsina, ELPE Elefsina, Loutropyrgos, Neas Peramos, Megara (as an option).

The total duration of the projects is set at 28 months from the day of signing the contract. Practically, if the project is signed off within 2023, it could be completed in the first half of 2026. Like all railway projects, a period of trial runs will be needed before commercial operation. The financing of the project comes from the Recovery Fund. It is the only purely construction railway project that has been included in the Fund.

With this project, the Suburban of Athens will acquire another line that will serve the western suburbs of the city, the industrial area of Aspropyrgos-Elefsina and also Western Attica up to Megara. In total, it will be the 4th line of the Suburban Railway, which are configured as follows: Chalkida-Athens, Piraeus-Kiato and Piraeus-Airport and Ano Liosia-Megara.

The object of the project

The project concerns the renovation of the infrastructure of S.G. with new materials and its certification according to the principles of Interoperability and includes the installation of a 25kV/50 Hz trolley-type overhead contact line system, the installation of a signaling system with ETCS L1 with remote control and station information systems, telecommunications systems and E/M installations at the stations and stops of the project ( ELPE Aspropyrgos, Aspropyrgos, Elefsina, ELPE Elefsina, Loutropourgos, Nea Peramos, Megara (SGYT) and Paleos S.S. Megaron).

Also included in the project are works to replace small and large line equipment, hydraulic works along the entire length, rehabilitation and reinforcement of line equipment as well as wharf construction works.

The project budget also includes the line branch to the old Megaron station, the construction of which is an option that is activated with the approval of the environmental conditions for the section in question.