Trial route for Patras Suburban Railway extension under completion

An extension project of Patras Suburban Railway,  to Kato Achaia, is officially under completion with the first test route takiing place, ypodomes.com reports.

Major joint ventures were needed for the conclusion of the project. The funding was covered by Western Greece Region (with a budget of 5.3m euros), while the implementing entity was OSE.

The project featured 2 contracts. The first one concerned the reconstruction of the line from Aghios Andreas to Kato Achaia and the modernization of the stations (i.e. construction and configuration of the platforms with ramps for the disabled, roof lighting, etc.) while the second one was the installation and operation of 31 automatic machines that will be lowering the barriers of train crossings, allowing a much safer movement of trains and vehicles.

The new stations that will operate following the completion of the projects are: Anthia, Aghios Georgios, Patras Beach 25th March, Tsaousi-Mintilogli, Vrachneika, Tsoukaleika, Alissos andKato Achaia that will be incorporated in the Patras suburban railway network as soon as OSE officially releases the line to traffic, allowing TRAINOSE to extend its service.

Patras Suburban Railway is currently considered one of the most successful means of public transpor as, despite the problems in its operation due to its isolation from the rest of the country's network, it has been widely embraced by the local community.

It is noteworthy, nevertheless, that despite the efforts that finally led to the re-introduction of the routes from Patras to Kato Achaia, the line remains metric-gauge (that is, narrower than the rest of the national network) which means that it will be exclusively used by the Suburban Railway trains that have been customized accordingly. 

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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Tony Esopi