Plans for the undergrounding of Athens Metro Line 1 section reemerge

Plans regardfing the upgrading of Athens Metro Line 1 in the section between Faliro and Piraeus have been recently dragged up, along with possible undergrounding works, but no decisions have been made yet, said in an interview with ANA MPA, the managing director of STASY SA, Mr. Giorgos Thomopoulos.

On the matter of the rolling stock’s refurbishment, i.e. Line 1 trains, he fully confirmed ypodomes.com’s report and added: “For the trains, several parts are obsolete and have completed their life circle, which is about 30 years. Currently, targeted upgrades of the trains’ systems, are being considered for upgrade in order to extend their service life by at least 15 to 20 years.

This is an addictional initiative of STASY in the direction of utilizing and upgrading- rather than replacing – existing trains, an option that is expected to continue to the economic growth of the country as relevant works will be carried out in Greece. We are in close cooperation with the Ministry and we hope that we will soon be able to implement the project.”

For passengers’ inconvenience queuing at Metro stations for ticket issue, he announced the upgrading of the old automatic ticket vending machines, soon. He also noted that a significant relief for passengers will come with the upgradw of Metro Lines’ 2 and 3 existing machines, which will also be able to function in the near future, adapted to the new electronic ticketing system (successful interoperability tests have already been carried out).

In any case, a definitive end in the queues will come when both Athens Public Transport operators and passengers get fully acquainted with e-ticket.