In July, if everything goes smoothly, the tram will start operating in Piraeus. The project, which has faced a number of obstacles, most recently with the delay of the works in the Faliriko Delta, in which it got “stuck” more than a year ago and the dilapidated listed building on Homeridos Skylitsis street, enters the final stretch. Thus, it will be the first step to solve the biggest problem of the city, which is none other than traffic.
With the delivery of all three stations of the extension of Line 3, in the summer of 2022, Piraeus will officially become the largest transport and logistics hub in the country. Having in the heart of its activity, of course, the largest port in the country, Piraeus will be connected within 50 minutes with “Eleftherios Venizelos” airport, it will be connected with Lines 1 and 3 of the metro, but also with the suburban railway, which puts to the railway.
Thus, the port is connected to the Thriasio Pedio, where the two major Logistics centers, Thriasio I and II, will be developed, by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, with the submission of the Environmental Impact Study for approval. Interested groups will then be invited to submit their binding bids for the € 350 million project. The construction of the project will take 5 years.
The tram again on the rails
In the final stretch it seems that the solution has been found regarding the last obstacle for the commercial operation of the tram in Piraeus. This is the collapsing listed building on Omiridou Skylitsi Street that “threatens” the tramway lines. The building was hit by the earthquake in the summer of 2019, then caught fire twice in 15 months, with the result that a large part of it has already collapsed.
The next act will be played on Thursday at the meeting of the Central Council of Modern Monuments of the Ministry of Culture and Sports where the proposal of the Municipality of Piraeus for the preservation of that part of the building that still stands with a special technique will be judged, allowing the start of the tram test routes. It is recalled that at the end of 2019, before the start of the new cycle of delays, the test routes had already been completed and this was to be given over to citizen use in January 2020.
If, however, the “green light” is given on Thursday by the KSNM, then in 20 days, ie at the beginning of July, the test routes will be able to start and in July the test operation will start. Otherwise, any other solution will reach the beginning of the tests in 2022. However, the necessary columns have already been installed.
The tram extension to Piraeus includes 5.4 km of single line and a total of 12 stations on a circular route.
90% of the work at the three Metro stations of the extension to the Port is complete
It is reminded that the first three stations of the extension of Metro Line 3, Agia Varvara, Korydallos and Nikaia, were put into operation on July 6, 2020, easing the daily movements of the wider area and restricting the traffic of private cars by 11,000 per day and CO2 emissions by 60 tonnes per day.
As for the three remaining stations, which will complete the expansion in the summer of 2022, in Maniatika, Piraeus, and the Municipal Theater, all the problems that had arisen have been overcome and the works are currently about 90% complete- that is, a little ahead of schedule – and specifically in the phase of architectural completion and installation of electromechanical equipment.
When the project is completed and the last three stations are put into operation, the increase in total passenger traffic in the Metro network will grow by 132,000 boardings per day. The traffic of private vehicles is expected to decrease by 23,000 per day and carbon dioxide emissions by 120 tonnes per day.
