Video with test drive train of the Thessaloniki Metro was made public, via Facebook, by the president of Attiko Metro, Nikos Tachiaos

It is, as he mentions, the movement of a train from Papafi Station to another station that captures how the network will work in a year when the project is completed and what the front passengers will see.

Mr. Tachiaos mentions specifically in his post:

“It goes without saying that the Thessaloniki Metro would not be absent from the pre-election confrontation. There are not a few who nullify the progress of the project and question whether it is in its completion phase. And of course, anything related to a project that is in its 18th year of construction is logically viewed with skepticism.

So because a picture is worth a thousand words, here is the video of the movement of the train which, during the 27th of November 2022, as part of the OPEN HOUSE, remained at the Papafi Station. Everything you see in it will form from time to time the living everyday life of the thousands of Thessalonians who will move through the tunnels.

Since the winter, the project has progressed much further. Such runs are carried out frequently, according to the schedule of the contracting consortium and with the simultaneous presence in the tunnels of several trains in order to test all the systems. And as I have already shown, a train also moved (electrically, with an operator) on the non-activated part of the main line, i.e. from the Fountain to the NSS, also passing through the fast Venizelos Station.

But this is far from saying that the metro is ready for operation as any citizen unfamiliar with the project would consider natural. From a construction point of view, the project will certainly be completed before the end of the year and as its commercial operation is preceded by mandatory independent certifications that guarantee the safety of the subway and the adequacy of people and procedures, this is placed at the beginning of 2024. for the operator of its first ten years of operation, in a very short time we will have news from its ongoing promotion competition. Stay tuned.

This is the reality.

And to return to the description of the video: In the first 3 minutes, you watch the departure from the dépôt of Pylaia, the passage through the rectangular cross-section tunnel under the extension of Papanastasiou, built with the cut & cover method, and the arrival at the first New Switzerland station. A minute and a half later, after all the checks have been carried out, the control room gives the signal to start inside one of the two tunnels built by the TBMs (commonly known as metropontics). This is a section of the line that will be visible to everyday metro passengers. Everything is done automatically. The control is revealed only to ascertain the speed of the train and to sound the horn to the delight of the waiting spectators. The operator remains uninvolved. His presence is required by the procedures. So is the total number of potential passengers in the testing phase.

At 05:22 the train passes Voulgari Station, at 06:08 the intersection of Kalamaria and immediately after Marchi Station, at 06:49 the crossover under Delphi, at 06:59 the Ascension Station, at 07:45 the Fleming Station, at 08:24 Euclid Station and at 09:07 it arrives at Papafi Station. Of course, as programmed by the control room as such a thing was unnecessary, the train does not stop at any station.

If nothing else, with this video one gets an impression of the image that the front passengers of the subway will have.”