The new administration of the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) in association with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport has plans to cut travel time between Athens to Thessaloniki from four-and-a-half hours to just three by 2021.

According to Minister Kostas Karamanlis, the upgrade will require an expansion of the signalling system, as well as heavy maintenance and upgrades on certain parts of the Athens-Thessaloniki line.

Based on designs provided by the government, priority will be given to the Athens-Thessaloniki line, while the second phase will see works commence on the eastern branch of the Egnatia network and the Paleofarsalos-Kalambaka line.

The plans also include connections between the main train network with nearby ports, such as the Port of Kavala and Pier Six, which is set to be developed at the Thessaloniki Port.

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The Minister left little hope however for the development of underground train lines that are within largely inhabited areas, such as Patras.

He blamed the previous government and his predecessor, Christos Spirtzis for suggestion the possibility when there was no research or funding to support it.

For the Patras network, Mr Karamanlis said “there has been no solution, since it’s very expensive and difficult and there’s no funding for it”. As for the Larissa line, he said that “it might be a bit of a stretch to say that we’re going to create an underground railway”.

The network that will go underground is that of the Sepolia line, since an agreement has been signed since October 2018, but works have yet to officially commence due to a lack of communication between the previous OSE and ERGOSE administrations.

The Minister also mentioned that there was such a sense of animosity between the former administrations of the main and affiliate companies, to the point that the works that ERGOSE had completed were never officially received by OSE.

When asked about a possible merger of the two companies to avoid such incidents in future, Mr Karamanlis said they are looking into it, but that no official decisions had been made.