Elliniko Metro S.A. and Thema Consortium, comprising ATM (Azienda Trasporti Milanesi) and Egis signed the operation and maintenance contract for Thessaloniki automated metro on October 5, 2023, at Agia Sophia station.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Minister of Infrastructures and Transport, Christos Staikouras, Deputy Minister of Infrastructures & Transport responsible for infrastructures-related issues, Nikos Tachiaos, as well as by the CEO of Elliniko Metro, Nikolaos Kouretas.
The Italian – French consortium (ATM 51% and Egis 49%) will be responsible for the management of the new driverless line in Thessaloniki, which will be inaugurated in the 4th quarter of 2024. In June 2022, the consortium won an 11-year contract worth EUR 250 million which includes daily operation and maintenance of the facilities, systems and rolling stock, cleaning services, security services, the management of the automatic fare collection system, as well as the installation and operation of the IT-ERP system to support the administrative operation of Thessaloniki Metro.
The signing of the contract “marks the big change that is coming to the transport map and the daily life of the citizens of Thessaloniki. We are now in the final phase of the project before entering transport services and the assignment of the operation to a private company is a brave political decision,” the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport said.
The entire metro system will be 20 km long after its extension to the Airport, and it will become the main hub for inner city travel and a strategic point for connections with the rest of the country.
The contract will be implemented in two stages. The first one covers the 9.6 km main line which crosses the entire city on its east-west axis with 13 stations from Nea Elvetia terminal station, in the south-eastern side of the city, to Thessaloniki Railway station terminus, an important interchange node with the railway network. The line, which follows the Monastiriou, Egnatia, Konstantinou Karamanli, Delfon and Solonos streets, ends at Pylea depot where a state-of-the-art control and management operations room is also located.
The second stage includes the operation of the 4.8 km underground extension to Kalamaria which will be served by five stations (Nomarchia, Kalamaria, Aretsou, Nea Krini and Mikra). It will connect the 25 Martiou station with the south-eastern area of the city, terminating at Mikra station. This section is in advanced construction phase and when completed, the daily ridership will increase to 63,000 passengers removing 12,000 vehicles off roads each day. This will be translated into the reduction of CO2 emissions by 43 tonnes per day. The journey from Mikra station to the city centre will take only 15 minutes, providing Kalamaria Municipality increased access to the Thessaloniki centre, substantially improving the quality of the citizens’ daily lives.
Equipped with sophisticated control and maintenance systems, the Thessaloniki automated metro provides a daily service with 18 trains in the first phase, to be increased to 33 trains in order to ensure transport services with the extension to Kalamaria.
When fully operational, the metro system will have a capacity of 18,000 passengers per hour per direction, 33 driverless trains running every 90 seconds. The new transport network will remove the number of private vehicles by 57,000 vehicles each day, which will reduce CO2 emissions by 212 tonnes per day.
Thessaloniki Metro is the largest transport project in Greece and its investment exceeds EUR 1.5 billion.
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