New ambitious plan for 6 major railway projects in Greece, worth 3.3bn euros

ERGOSE plans to auction 6 very important railway projects through the process of competitive dialogue. Realizing the difficulties of financing but also the time-consuming procedures required to promote the implementation of new major projects, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and ERGOSE are launching a new generation of projects with a total cost of 3.3bn euros aiming to modernize the greek railway and interconnect 6 major ports of the country with the national network.

These projects, according to what Christos Vinis, CEO of ERGOSE, announced from the podium of the 8th Regional Development Conference in Patras(organized by “Peloponnisos” newspaper) last weekend, are as follows:

1. New railway line Thessaloniki-Kavala-Toksotes (i.e. eastern “Railway Egnatia”, with 1.3bn euros

2. Upgrade of Alexandroupoli-Ormenio railway line, with 815m euros

3. Extension of Athens Suburban Railway (“El. Venizelos” Airport-Rafina section), with 300m euros

4. Extension of Athens Suburban Railway (Koropi-Lavrio section), with 380m euros

5. New double-track railway line between Rio and Patra, with 514m euros

6. Connection of Thessaloniki Port 6th Pier with the national network, with 22m euros

According to Mr. Vinis, the choice of the competitive dialogue for the promotion of major railway projects has specific advantages such as the acceleration of the projects’ maturation, the assurance that the best technical solution will be chosen, as a result of the consultation between stakeholders, the possibility of implementing innovative solutions and the compliance with implementation schedules

It is also important that the contractor, after the completion of the dialogue, becomes the master of the project study, thus assuming responsibility for any failure. Now, what remains to be decided is the process by which these projects will run and a more specific timeline for their implementation.