Greece - General Information: Difference between revisions

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{{Navbox Greece}}
==Country Name==
==Country Name==
Greece (Hellas)
Greece (Hellas)

Revision as of 21:47, 18 April 2013

Country Name

Greece (Hellas)

National Railway System

National Railway Operator

  • Organisme des Chemins de fer Helleniques S.A. The state railway is normally abbreviated as OSE, this being derived from a transliteration of the Greek title, Organismos Sidirodromon Ellados.
  • Suburban traffic in Attika (Piraeus - Athens - SKA - Halkida and Athens Airport - SKA - Kiato) and Makedonia (Thessaloniki – Domokos) is operated under the brand name Proastiakos (Suburban Railway).

Infrastructure Authority

Trainose/ΤραινΟΣΕ

Language

Greek. Greek script is quite different from Roman and there is no standard system of transcription. In many of the places served by the railway system, away from the main tourist areas, only Greek is spoken.

Currency

Euro

UIC code

numeric 73; alpha GR

Timetable

Journey Planner

http://tickets.trainose.gr/dromologia/, click on the en text in the top right corner to switch to English language.

Downloadable Timetable

PDF files are available as links from the following pages:-

  • Main Line Trains and click on "Δρομολόγια υπεραστικού δικτύου" under "Attached Files". Only in Greek.
  • Athens Suburban Railway (Athens Airport - SKA - Kiato train services, and Kiato - Patra bus connections).
  • Halkida - Athens (Halkida - SKA - Athens - Piraeus train services).

Printed Timetable

None.

Engineering Information

The main TrainOSE webpage, under Latest News, often gives details of engineering work but the information is only in Greek.

Maps

Printed Maps

  • European Railway Atlas: Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece by M.G. Ball (1991) (ISBN 0-7110-2087-6)
  • European Railway Atlas by M.G. Ball (2008 onwards)
  • Quail Map Co published a railway map of Greece, with extensive supplementary information, but this is currently out of print.

Web-based Maps

Ticketing

OSE and Proastiakos have entirely separate ticketing.

Trains can be very crowded so reservations are desirable and sometimes essential. Reserved seats are not marked as such.

Gauge

Standard. The Peloponnese lines from Piraeus to Patras, Olimpia and Kalamata etc were formerly entirely metre gauge. The Pireas – Aghios Anargiri section was converted to standard gauge in place of the former standard gauge line to Pireas. The Aghios Anargiri - Kiato metre gauge line is still in service, but with a dual gauge section in common with the new standard gauge Piraeus – Athens – Korinthos (new Station) – Kiato line. The line from Kiato to Patras is still metre gauge but being converted to standard gauge. The line from Diakopto to Kalavrita is 750 mm gauge.

Electrification

25 kV 50 Hz.

Rule of the road

Right.

Other Railways

None.

Tourist Lines

  • Attika Museum Railway: Keratea to Kalivia (extension to Markopoulo under construction) (metre gauge)
  • Volos – Parleofarsalos (Metre gauge, in working order but with no regular service)
  • Diakopto – Kalavrita (rack railway, 22 km long) (750 mm gauge)
  • Tempi valley railway: former main line along the Tempi river (replaced by a new double track line) operated by motor draisines, with no scheduled timetable. See sfsl.fotopic.net
  • Pilio Railway: Ano Lehonia to Milies (600 mm gauge)

Metro

Athens.

Trams

Athens.

Recent and future changes

The Thessaloniki - Edessa - Aminteo - Florina line will reopen on 14 October 2012.

All international services from Greece were discontinued from 13 February 2011 but a weekly summer-only service will be reintroduced between Thessaloniki and Skopje (Macedonia) from 14 July to 30 September 2012.

The very bad financial situation in Greece caught up with OSE in December 2010. The following lines were closed to all traffic on 1 January 2011, although a few had already ceased operating by then:

  • Patras - Kalamata
  • Pirgos - Olympia
  • Pirgos - Katakolo
  • Isthmos - Lutraki (had already ceased)
  • Diakofto - Kalavrita (was operating only irregularly)
  • Kalonero - Kiparissia
  • Korinthos - Kalamata (was not operating between Tripoli and Zevgolatio)
  • Argos - Nafplio
  • Patras - Rioni suburban service
  • Kalamata - Zevgolatio suburban service
  • Thessaloniki - Edessa - Aminteo - Florina
  • Aminteo - Kozani
  • Serres - Alexandroupoli - Pithio - Dikea; trains from Ormenio to Bulgaria had already ceased.
  • Thessaloniki - Idomeni (international services ceased on 13 February 2011)
  • Strimon - Kulata (service ceased from 13 February 2011)
  • Larisa - Volos (local trains)
  • Paleofarsalos - Kalambaka (local trains)

No maintenance will be carried out on these lines and buildings may be sold or rented out. Lines not mentioned above, such as Paleofarsalos - Volos, Volos - Milies, the Kilini branch line and the Agrinio network, will be liquidated as soon as possible. All remaining train operations will be transferred from OSE to the infrastructure company TRAINOSE.

The following services will continue to operate (although no details about timetables and frequencies are available yet):

  • Pireas - Athina - Korinthos - Kiato - Patras (Kiato - Patras only after completion of regauging to 1435 mm)
  • Athina - Lianokladi - Paleofarcelos - Larisa - Plati - Thessaloniki
  • Thessaloniki - Serres
  • Athina - Lianokladi - Stylida
  • Athina - Lianokladi - Paleofarcelos - Kalambaka
  • Kalambaka - Paleofarcelos - Thessaloniki
  • Athina - Lianokladi - Paleofarcelos - Larisa - Volos
  • Volos - Larisa - Plati - Thessaloniki
  • Athina and Thessaloniki suburban services

No decision has yet been made about the local Athina - Inoi - Halkidia service.

Freight services will also be maintained on these lines where they were running prior to 1 January 2011.

After a year, on 1 January 2012, the government will review the results of these measures. Depending of the results it will then be decided if a few lines such as Diakofto - Kalavrita and Patras - Pirgos - Olympia may be reactivated for tourist operation. The Thessaloniki - Edessa, Larisa - Volos and Larisa - Kalambaka local services may be reinstated after 2012 if local authorities are willing to pay for the deficit.

On 2 June 2010 the government announced the part-privatisation of OSE: a 49% stake will be sold to a strategic investor, which will be responsible for management. The Ministry of Infrastructure will release a comprehensive recovery plan for OSE by the end of June, setting out plans to cut the railway's annual losses of €1bn and €10bn of debt. This is likely to include the separation of passenger and freight activities, a reduction in staff and closure of loss-making lines. The draft plan is expected to consider the individual business cases of all lines except the core Athens - Thessaloniki main line and Athens suburban network, and could stipulate closure of lines where revenues have covered less than 40% of operating costs over the last three years. On large parts of the metre-gauge Peloponnese network this figure is closer to 20% (partly because more than half of the train fleet is out of service, leading to mass cancellations), while on the Thessaloniki - Kozani line it is around 30%.

The main line from Athens to Thessaloniki is in the course of extensive reconstruction, including doubling, realignment and electrification. This work has been under way for many years. Electrification is now complete from Thessaloniki to Domokos. A new line is under construction between Tithorea and Lianokladi, including the 9 km long Kallidromo tunnel. The mountainous section between Lianokladi and Domokos is being realigned, doubled and electrified. A proposed base tunnel was rejected because of geological problems. However, these works are now likely to be halted because of the financial crisis in Greece.

Other recent electrifications are to Halkida and Ano Lossia – Athens Airport, with a planned extension from Koropi towards Lavrio. The airport line joins the metro at Plakentias and changes there from 25 kV AC overhead to third rail DC.

Athens - Patras is being rebuilt as a standard gauge line. A new metre gauge curve has been built to connect the new Korinthos station to the old station and the line to Tripoli. The branch to Loutraki has closed and it is not certain if it will be converted to standard gauge.

The former metre gauge line between Palaeofarsalos and Kalambaka has been converted to standard gauge. The metre gauge line from Paleofarsalos to Volos, closed to regular traffic on 19 June 1998, is used by special trains but only rarely.

The one train each way between Díkaia/Díkea and Svilengrad (Bulgaria) was withdrawn in August 2009.

Train services were withdrawn between Messonissia and Kremenica (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) due to tensions between Greece and FYROM, and are unlikely to resume. The Peloponnese branch from Pirghos to Katakolo closed on 28 October 1998 due to poor track condition but has re-opened after rehabilitation.

Special Notes

Station names are usually shown in Roman script as well as in Greek, but spellings can vary considerably from what may appear in timetables, maps or guide books.

See also