The long-awaited Thessaloniki metro opened its doors to the public today, marking a historic moment for Greece’s second-largest city.
Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, along with a large group of other government officials, local authorities, and thousands of people, inaugurated Thessaloniki’s metro on Saturday noon, local time.
This milestone for Thessaloniki and Greece as a whole was achieved after eighteen years of construction and anticipation, with delays and postponements making the Thessaloniki metro a popular theme for jokes among Greeks.
The Thessaloniki metro is now reality
The main line of the city’s first fixed-track transport system is now fully operational, transforming the city of Thessaloniki, which has suffered significantly in the last few decades from heavy road congestion.
Right after its official inauguration, thousands of people, locals and visitors, rushed to its stations to see first-hand Thessaloniki’s metro.
The state-of-the-art metro system of Thessaloniki that is operated fully automated by driverless trains, spans just short of 9.6 km (6 miles) and currently serves a total of thirteen stations, with plans for expansion to eighteen stations in the future.
The first part of its extension to the suburb of Kalamaria is expected to be ready within the following year.
The system operates with a total of eighteen, ultra-modern, driverless trains, though there will always be an attendant present for safety purposes.
The metro of Thessaloniki has an impressive capacity and can accommodate 18,000 passengers per hour each direction, with a total daily capacity of 254,000 passengers. This is expected to go up to 350,000 with the addition of 15 more trains in the near future.
Thessaloniki’s metro is also an underground museum
One of the most remarkable features of the new Thessaloniki metro system is the display of spectacular and significant Roman and Byzantine discoveries, which have been unearthed during the long years of its construction.
The Venizelos Station is the prime example of the beauty and significance of these discoveries, as the station will be an actual museum apart from its function as a metro station.
The President of the Republic of Greece Katerina Sakellaropoulou along with Premier Mitsotakis were shown the spectacular Venizelos Station on Friday evening by Minister of Culture Lina Mendoni.
The Venizelos Station showcases a remarkable collection of antiquities, including infrastructure and buildings dating from the 3rd to 6th centuries AD.
The archaeological findings include various artifacts such as coins, pottery, glass, iron, bronze, marble, and even bones, offering passengers a uniquely new perspective of Thessaloniki’s exceptionally rich history over the centuries.
Passengers will be able to view the ancient artifacts discovered during the metro’s construction on the first level of the Venizelos Station by walking on glass floors that function as walkways.
The station’s second floor houses the principal archaeological site. The passengers, who will effectively also be visitors to this open museum, will have the chance to observe the discoveries on display.
What it means for the city
The introduction of the Thessaloniki metro system is expected to be a significant shift in Thessaloniki’s public transport infrastructure.
The city will now transition from a bus-only system to an integrated dual transportation network that will have the metro system at its core and bus services around it. This development addresses the persistent issue of heavy road traffic that has long plagued the residents of this city with more than one million residents.
According to estimates, the new underground of Thessaloniki cost approximately 3.5 billion euros, funded through a combination of European Investment Bank loans, European Regional Development Fund support, and contributions of the Greek state.
While the project has faced significant delays since its initiation in 2006, primarily due to the huge number of archaeological discoveries, the result is clearly a modern metro system that embraces Thessaloniki’s past in a unique and spectacular way.
Related: 300,000 Ancient Artifacts Found During Thessaloniki Metro Works
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