Thessaloniki Metro: The process of works

The completion of the project of the main line of the Thessaloniki metro is foreseen for the end of 2023. The last request for extension of the contractor consortium has a completion date of December 31, 2023, keeping in line exactly for the fulfillment of the government commitment to complete the long-suffering project next year.

In the road race that is taking place to advance the “Venizelou” station, which has become a field of controversy quite a few times, leading to the courtrooms, today the Central Archaeological Council (KAS) will see the study of temporary detachment and relocation of antiquities revealed in the first phase of the temporary detachment of the overlying antiquities.

According to the schedule, by the beginning of the summer the offices of Attiko Metro at the Depot venue will have been completed and delivered for use, while in the first half of the year the civil engineering works in the section from “New Railway Station” to “Sintrivani” will be completed. The completion of this section with the electromechanical installations will start the countdown for the operation of the Thessaloniki metro, as the tests of the trains that are currently limited to the “Sintrivani” station will begin.

The 18 driverless trains, which will run for the first time in our country starting from Thessaloniki, concern the first supply and have already started test routes. As for the second batch of 15 new trains, which will strengthen both the main line and its extension, the Tender Committee is checking the supporting documents of a bid submitted by the AKTOR-Hitachi scheme for the supply, amounting to 142 million euros ( without VAT).

As for the extension to Kalamaria, on March 14, 2022, the contract is signed for the 8 remaining electromechanical systems (E / M), which relate to CCTV, PA, DTS, SMS, TETRA, PIS, ICCS, PRCS, while for Signaling and BACS, the contractors have already been installed. With these contracts, the completion of the project of the extension of the main line of the Thessaloniki metro started.

The next steps at Venizelos station

Archaeological works have been completed at all sites of the project except the disputed “Venizelos” station. Meanwhile, in the southern part of the “Agia Sofia” station, for which the method of detachment and repositioning of the archeological findings was chosen from the beginning, the repositioning of the antiquities has already begun.

In particular, at the “Venizelou” station, where the road race is taking place in order for the project to be completed within the schedule to which the Prime Minister himself has committed, the entire roadway of the Middle Road, “decumanusmaximus”, has been detached in sections, as described in approved study, together with the underlying pavements, to the upper surface of the underlying pipelines AG12 and AG13. An excavation was carried out in the intermediate intervals of the sections to be detached and the detachment of the archaeological unit D28 remains.

Also, the entire southern part of the cardo (C1) was detached, the mud-brick walls were dismantled by the staff of the specialized company INTERGEO, while the quad-portal and the pillars have been removed.

In the demarcated area of ​​the southern part of the station, where in an earlier excavation mercury was found, detachment works were carried out under the continuous supervision of INTERGEO, using special equipment for work crews, based on the company’s proposals submitted and approved by the Ministry Culture. After the completion of the construction of the “Venizelos” station, the antiquities will be relocated in the same place.

Meanwhile, last August, the temporary support works of the Northern Access of the “Venizelos” station began. These are necessary for the start of an archaeological excavation in the area. They were completed at the end of December 2021 and then the archaeological excavation began, which are being carried out in an area of ​​323 sq.m. and will reach a depth of about 9.5 m. Archaeological research is left in the Southeastern well of the Station, in an area of ​​83 sq.m. and at a depth of about 7.5 m.

It is recalled that in a meeting last week, the Central Archaeological Council, which seems to have found its pace in the issue of antiquities of the “Venizelos” station, according to the joint proposal of the four Directorates and the Ephorate of Antiquities of Thessaloniki, unanimously advocated the temporary detachment and reinstatement of the ancient remains, which were discovered inside the shell of the station during the second phase of the excavation, and are placed between the late 3rd and 6th c. A.D. The research was carried out after the temporary detachment of the overlying antiquities.

The overall course of the project

With the total percentage of implementation of the basic line contract, which is contracted by the consortium “AKTOR – WEBUILD – HITACHI RAIL – HITACHI Rail Italy” amounts to 82%, the progress in the civil engineering work is about 97.2% (excluding the architectural finishing touches that are at 77%) and the electro-mechanical works at about 64%. The long-awaited main line (9.6 km long and 13 stations) will relieve the city from the traffic problem to which the absence of alternative public transport beyond buses contributes decisively. It is estimated that the main line will serve 250,000 passengers daily, with a maximum carrying capacity of 18,000 passengers per hour and direction.

The construction of the extension to Kalamaria, 4.77 km long with 5 stations, by AKTOR is currently at 84.3% of the total implementation, with the civil engineering works reaching 96.82%. Last June, the final landscaping works started at the four stations “Nomarchia”, “Aretsou”, “Nea Krini” and “Mikra”, while the final landscaping works, construction of medians and sidewalks in the area have largely progressed at the “Kalamaria” station.

The superstructure, the third line and the sidewalk canals have also been fully constructed (double line), except for the 5 switches whose installation has recently started and is expected to be completed in the first half of 2022. Today it is around 89%.

Yesterday, after a working meeting at the offices of Attiko Metro in Thessaloniki, the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure, Mr. George Karagiannis stated the following:

“As part of our commitment to the regular supervision of the Metro course in Thessaloniki, we held a working meeting today at the offices of Attiko Metro with the construction consortium and all those involved in the project. The course of the project was discussed and its satisfactory development was noted. In particular, in the main line of the project there is great progress in the installation of electromechanical systems, while at the same time it was unblocked, after several years, and now next week the contract for the remaining electromechanical equipment is signed for the project of expansion to Kalamaria “.

Concluding, he stressed that at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport “we are moving even faster in the planning we have done and we remain faithful to the schedules we have set. With actions we implement the commitment of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, as well as of Costas Karamanlis, so that Thessaloniki will have both the metro and ancient monuments and we refute the voices of division and introversion. We are determined and we are moving forward so that the city has by the end of 2023 the most modern and functional Metro in all of Greece “.