The renovation of the 14 trains of Metro line 1 will be funded by the NSRA – What will change

The project of upgrading 14 trains for 70 carriages that have been operating on line 1 of the Metro since the 1980s was included in the NSRF funding by decision of the Ministry of Development and Investments. The total cost of the project amounts to 94.19 million euros. The projects include the renovation of the substations in Faliro and Heraklion as well as the hiring of a Technical Consultant.

Let us remind you that the STASY tender (which is the contracting authority) is at an advanced stage with the Spanish CAF having been announced as the temporary contractor of the project. With this project, the 14 trains of the 8th reception will be renovated which began to operate gradually in the two years 1984-1985 and today are in a particularly bad condition, both visually and functionally as they will have a new interior, air conditioning, screens, new E/M systems while the trains will be accessible to disabled passengers. If we have no delays the project contract can be signed within the year.

A Bridge project

Essentially, this project starts with the funds of the NSRF 2014-2020, but it is planned to be completed as a bridge project under the new NSRF 2021-2027. The total eligible expenditure for this period amounts to 12.3 million euros.

In this first funding period, the works estimated to be carried out are the delivery of a real-scale model of a representative train vehicle and the related services of the Technical Consultant for the works mentioned above.

The rest of the vehicles and trains, the sub-project of the traction of substations upgrade as well as the remaining work of the Technical Consultant, will be the subject of Phase B 2021-2027.

The duration of the projects was estimated at 34 months from the signing of the contract. On the assumption that the project will be signed in 2022, then all the trains will have been modernized by 2025. Beside the overall deadline, there will be a partial delivery of the trains. The first “new” train will be delivered in 19 months (570 days) from the day of signing the contract, another four in 25 months, and another five in 30 months. The last four will be delivered by the end of the contract. Renovation work is expected to take place at facilities within the country.

How will the trains be improved

With this contract, these trains will be renovated to be able to operate adequately for an additional 25 years from the time they are put back into service. More specifically, equipment and system improvements concerning the general parts of the train vehicles such as the driver’s cabin, the electronic control units, the interior passenger space and the underfloor equipment are included in the contract.

The requirements of the renovation and its main results are summarized in the following systems:

a. complete or partial replacement of door, traction, auxiliary and air supply systems resulting in increased reliability and improved train maintainability,

b. complete renovation of the driver’s cabin and the interior of the vehicles in order to improve accessibility and passenger information,

c. installation of modern surveillance and control systems (e.g. cameras to control the closing of doors) which will lead to an increase in the level of operational safety of the train and improvement of the driver’s working conditions.

The main works of the proposed project mainly concern the replacement of traction motors, static auxiliary voltage inverters, windows, seats, maintenance of the air conditioning system, installation of new floor and side walls, installation of LED lighting, new closed circuit cameras and public information screens. At the same time, the carriages will be accessible to the disabled, while safety belts for wheelchairs will also be installed.

Renovation of substations and energy from braking

At the same time, the renovation of the Faliro and Heraklion substations is planned. The aim is the possibility of recovering energy which is produced during the electric braking of the trains. The existing estimate is that with the energy recovery system that will be installed, significant energy savings of approximately 10% are expected.

For substations, the key pieces of equipment that will be replaced are the following:

a. medium voltage fields

b. traction and lighting transformers

c. remedial provisions.

The upgrade will contribute to the reduction of damages and thus increase the reliability of their operation.