ON MARCH 26 a tunnel boring machine broke through into the station box at Agiou Ioanni station in the southeastern suburb of Neos Kosmos, marking the completion of tunnelling on Line 2 of the Athens Metro. Work on the Sepolia - Dafni line is late because boring was suspended for several months in 1995-96 (Developing Metros 96 p35).
The northern section of Line 2 from Sepolia depot to the interchange at Syntagma and the eastern part of Line 3 from Syntagma to Pentagono are nearing completion, and test running was due to start in April. The Transport Ministry expects public services between Sepolia and Pentagono to start in December, with Syntagma - Dafni to follow by October 2000.
