Last update for this page: 22 July 2010.
National Railway System: 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 - Ano Liosia - Kiato, Ano Liosia - Athens airport and to Halkida) and Makedonia (Thessaloniki – Domokos) is operated under the brand name Proastiakos (Suburban Railway). OSE and Proastiakos have entirely separate ticketing.
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
| Journey Planner: | www.trainose.com/?lang=en. This gives both OSE and Proastiakos services. |
| Downloadable Timetable: | None. |
| Printed Timetable: | None. |
| Engineering Information: | The 'Cancellation of services due to works' section of the Trainose website gives details of engineering work but appears to be out of date. |
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:
Metro: Athens.
Trams: Athens.
Special Notes:
Trains can be very crowded. Reservations are desirable and sometimes essential. Reserved seats are not marked as such.
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.
Recent and future changes:
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.
Other lines to be retained and developed are Thessaloniki to Díkaia/Díkea; Plati to Kozani and Florina; and Kalamata to Korinthos and Patras. Others are likely to be privatised or closed. The one train each way between Díkaia/Díkea and Svilengrad (Bulgaria) was withdrawn in August 2009.
Train services have been 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.
Maps: Quail Map Co published a railway map of Greece, with extensive supplementary information, but this is currently out of print.
Last complete update 10/15 November 1999; general update (18 February 2001); Currency updated (2 January 2002); Pilio Railway details updated (13 January 2002); minor updates (16 August 2003 and 16 October 2004); general update (5 April 2010); "Recent and future changes" updated (22 July 2010).
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