Press release
Athens, 30 March 2021
Signing of the contract with a budget of €13.3 million for the completion of the upgrading works of the railway axis
Athens – Thessaloniki – Promachona
With the completion of the works, the journey time from Athens to Thessaloniki by train will be reduced to 3 hours and 15 minutes
The Board of Directors of ERGOSE, approved yesterday, Monday 29 March, the signing of the Contract which accelerates the completion of the project “Restoration and Upgrade of the Signalling-Telecommand System and Replacement of 70 Track Switches in Localized Sections of the Athens – Thessaloniki – Premahonas Axis” number of contract 717 (except for the section Tithorea – Domokos). It is stressed that this approval, which followed that of the Court of Auditors, closes the cycle of administrative procedures in order to implement the necessary additional works for the safe and perfect completion of the project.
It is worth noting that on 22 January 2021 the Board of Directors of ERGOSE had approved an extension of the project duration by 16 months, as during the implementation stage additional work was required for its completion. These works are reflected in the Contract, the signing of which was approved at yesterday’s meeting and their budget amounts to €13,320,240.00.
In addition, it is noted that the initial contractual budget of the project is €41.3 million (after discount) and is being executed by the consortium TOMI S.A. – ALSTOM TRANSPORT SA. The contract was signed in September 2014 and to date 85% of the scope has been successfully executed. The project is co-financed by the European Union, under the NSRF 2014-2020 programme, as well as by national resources.
This contract (717) is directly linked to the supply contract (10005) which concerns the installation of the ETCS (European Control Train System) on the respective sections. The completion of the works will result in a significant increase in the safety of rail travel on commercial and passenger services, while the journey time on the Athens – Thessaloniki railway axis will be reduced to 3:15′ from the current 3:57′.
The ETCS system concerns the automatic protection of trains and consists of two subsystems, the Train System and the Line System, which allow:
- the continuous monitoring of the maximum permitted train speed
- automatic protection against speed infringements by applying service or emergency braking, as well as automatic train immobilization with emergency braking in case of a red signal infringement.
- the display of the light signals in the driver’s cab using Lineside Electronic Units (LEU) and radio beacons (Eurobalises).
On the occasion of this development, the Managing Director of ERGOSE, Mr. Christos Vinis said that “ERGOSE’s goal is to complete the modernization of the country’s railway network in the shortest possible time, but always with absolute commitment to the conditions of excellence, quality and safety of transport. To this end, we are taking initiatives and are proceeding without further delays with all the necessary procedures”.
For more information you can contact the following contact details:
Tel: 210 5283 492
Email: info@ergose.gr
About ERGOSE:
ERGOSE S.A. was established in 1996 as a subsidiary of OSE and belongs to the public utilities. The company’s mission is to complete a modern railway network that will constitute an important development pillar for the Greek economy and society, contributing to the safety and speed of transport of people, goods and freight. In this context, ERGOSE S.A. currently manages the modernization projects of the railway lines and facilities of OSE co-financed by the Operational Programmes of the National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) 2014-2020 from the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) 2014-2020 as well as projects with purely national funding that are necessary to complete the investments of the co-financed programmes. The company currently employs more than 200 experienced and highly qualified staff, while it has been providing its services for more than two decades, responding effectively and reliably to the implementation of projects through its excellent organization, structure and systems.
