Patra: Undergrounding of Rio – Aghios Dionysios railway section to be auctioned in January 2019

The Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Mr. Christos Spirtzis, announced the auctioning of the project concerning the construction of a new double-track railway line in Rio – Aghios Dionysios of Patra, next January, after a meeting with the Mayor of the city, Mr. Peletidis. As he noted, there was a commitment for the undergrounding of the section and after a study carried out by ERGOSE, it proved to be technically feasible.

Mr. Sprintzis stressed that the plan is for the construction of a fully undergrounded railway section, 6.5 km-long explaining that during the past month the Gov’t had been in negotiations with European Commission’s bodies and finally managing to secure funding. The extra cost of the project will be 45m euros.

The Minister of Infrastructure also refered to redevelopment plans on the surface, after the undergrounding of the existing line mentioning that the mayor said that there are thoughts for bicycle lanes, green spaces and areas of social activities after discussions with the involvement of the Technical Chamber of Greece.

Mr. Spitzis also stressed the great change this great project will bring, saying that after the completion of the abovementioned infrastructure projects, “Patra will be one another city, with a real coastal front -not just the map – for its citizens and with a permanent solution to the traffic problems.”

According to the Minister, in the new double-track line, will also have metric-gauge tracks in order to connect to the new section, allowing, at the same time, the operation of Patra Suburban Railway, during the works. In the future, it could also facilitate a future extension of the Suburban Railway to Kato Achaya and Pyrgos.

The project, as it seems will reach a cost of 300m euros and will be the largest co-funded project by the EU. It will also include a complete refurbishment of all the stations in the above section, while for Aghios Dionysios area, a new state-of-the-art terminal will be set up to meet the needs of the city.

In the next phase, a new extension of the line is also planned, to the new port and Aghios Andreas areas in order to cover the needs of freight transport.

Nikos Karagiannis-ypodomes.com