GREECE: The operating and maintenance contract for the Thessaloniki metro has been signed, with opening now planned for the fourth quarter of year 2024.
Project promoter Hellenic Metro announced in June that it had selected the THEMA Consortium of Milano transport operator ATM (51%) and French engineering company Egis (49%) for the 11-year contract worth €250m, which was signed on October 4 in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Competitive capacity
The consortium said the deal had established it ‘in the international arena as a player with great competitive capacity, able to compete with other leading European companies’.
ATM has previously won contracts in København and Riyadh. ‘This important contract is fully in line with ATM’s international development plans to enhance our experience and know-how in the management of automatic metro systems and mobility’, said CEO Arrigo Giana. ‘Our motivation and commitment are oriented towards offering the best public transport services to the city users of the second most important city in Greece and to the entire country.’
Egis has more than 30 operating and maintenance contracts in ‘highly complex environments’, including tunnels, motorways and an airport. ‘The integration of an automatic metro line into our operations business is the culmination of a long and powerful process of consolidating our expertise’, said Renaud Beziade, CEO Consulting & Operations.
Metro project
After an earlier false start, construction of the metro got underway in 2006 with opening originally envisaged for 2012.
The automated line using AnsaldoBreda (now Hitachi) driverless trains will run 9·6 km from city’s main railway station in the west to Nea Elvetia in the east, with 13 stations.
The 4·8 km southeastern Kalamaria Extension branch from 25 Martiou to Mikra will add five more stations. In the longer term the network is planned to reach 20 km when the branch is extended to the airport.
