The “historic event” is expected to take place in 2024. According to estimates, the metro will be operational by the end of the new year, most likely in November.
As relevant officials have repeatedly assured, commercial operation of the Thessaloniki metro will begin in the new year. After the acquisition of ACTOR by INTRAKAT, the implementation of the project will accelerate. Already at the beginning of 2024, the metro will “come to life”; testing of trains on the route to the New Station will begin. To make this possible, it is necessary to install electromechanical systems.
The contractor for the metro O&M project, Italian-French THEMA (Thessaloniki Metro Automatic), is also awaiting completion to start recruiting personnel, organizing the structure and operation of the metro. Italian-French consortium ATM-EGIS first in Greece took over the maintenance and operation of the metro system (for the next 12 years for 292 million euros).
It is expected that the Thessaloniki metro, which by 2024 will serve about 315,000 citizens daily, will improve the quality of life of citizens and visitors to the northern capital, helping to ease traffic in the city (of course, residents of Thessaloniki should not expect any special “miracles”), but still there will be a noticeable difference in the modernization of transport infrastructure.
The total cost of construction of the Thessaloniki metro will rise to 2.082 billion euros, of which 1.496 billion euros will be the cost of the main line, against 1.1-1.2 billion euros of the original budget, and 586 million euros for the cost of the extension to Kalamaria. Once the project is fully implemented, approximately 60,000 fewer vehicles will be on the city’s roads every day, resulting in a reduction in CO2 emissions of 212 tons per day.
When the metro operates with 18 super-automatic driverless trains for every three trains. Train frequency is expected to increase in the near future as the procurement process for a further 15 rolling stock has already begun, with delivery expected to begin at the end of 2024. The capacity of each train is estimated at 450 people. The train speed will reach 80 kilometers per hour.
The route from the New Railway Station to Pilaya Depot will last a total of 17 minutes with 13 stops, each maintaining a distance of 500-700 meters from each other. To further protect citizens, the opening of security doors will be coordinated with the arrival of the train, allowing passengers to pass through only during boarding. Passengers will have access to the Internet, as a free and high-speed Wi-Fi network will operate at metro stations.
It is assumed that after the delivery of its main line in 6 months, an extension to Kalamaria will be put into operation during 2025, and in the distant future, after studies have been prepared and funding has been found, an extension to the west of Kalamaria.
The long-suffering metro project in Thessaloniki has already become the talk of the town, a popular topic for jokes. The patience of the residents of Thessaloniki has long been exhausted, and everyone hopes that 2024 will be the end of the epic that began in… 1976, when the construction of the metro in Thessaloniki was first included in the state budget of the government of Konstantinos Karamanlis.
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