Cargo services on renovated railway section in Central Greece commenced

As of Friday, February 2nd, 2018, the first routes started to run on the new double-track Tithorea-Lianokladi line, a 54 km long railway section, which came to replace the adjacent obsolete single-track line, after many decades of continuous operation. The first trains to use the line offered cargo services and, according to information provided at Ypodomes.com, 4 itineraries were carried out throughout the day.

Mr. Thanos Vourdas, Secretary General of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, commented on his personal Facebook page: “Today is a truly historic day for the Greek Railway. Freight routes are operated entirely through the renovated Lianokladi-Tithorea railway section. Kallidromo Tunnel is now ‘alive’ and in circulation. A great ‘thumbs up’ and a huge ‘thank you’ to the executives of ERGOSE who, within 2.5 years completed 83% of a project that started in 1997…as well as the executives of OSE and the staff and train drivers of TRAINOSE. I am proud of you and the railroad family altogether is also proud. Passenger services are about to commence very soon.  History is being made both for the Greek Railway and the country.”

According to the same information, passenger services are expected to start during this week after a few final touches that will ensure 100% functionality of the new double-track line which will be able to support speeds up to 200km/h reducing travel distance on the 54 km long section by 40 (!) minutes to just about 20 minutes, compared to 1 hour that was previously needed to cover the same distance, while simultaneously lowering the Athens-Thessaloniki route to 4 hours 30 minutes.

This section, as it is already known, the longest tunnel in the Balkans, Kallidromo Tunnel, 9 km long is also in operation. It is the penultimate section to be delivered on the fully upgraded Athens-Thessaloniki corridor, as Lianokladi-Domokos section, which is expected to be completed by next June, will be released in September 2018, concluding 3 decades of modernization projects on the main railway artery of the country.

It is worth mentioning that this new railway section, on the Athens-Thessaloniki corridor, is the first to be delivered to operation in 15 years.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com

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