Efforts to overcome the problems left behind by the two successive earthquakes in Volos and Pelion are being made by the State and Agencies. In particular, dealing with the massive damage to the water, electricity, road and railway networks requires studies, approvals, organization, a lot of money and a lot of time.

In a relatively short period of time, cities and villages were re-supplied with water and even inaccessible mountain settlements were re-electrified, while with the help of the Greek Army, road access was restored in some cases with the installation of Belley-type metal bridges.

The big question mark, however, for Volos and the rest of Thessaly, is the railway. Trains stopped running and transport work throughout the District since the beginning of last September and the disaster was completed with the bad weather “Elias”.

Volos, the country’s third largest port, is cut off by rail, as are the A and B BIPE with hundreds of small and large industries and businesses that are suffocating without the possibility of transporting products and raw materials by rail, forced to resort to other solutions with high cost.

The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure Nikos Tachiaos who recently visited Volos stated that “the railway network has suffered a lot of damage, and the Volos-Larissa railway line will not be able to be restored before the end of 2025 due to the extensive damages that have been caused and it is not excluded that the restoration will also be connected with the electrification project that was stopped due to the weather”.

The plans before the two theomenies, at the beginning and at the end of September, aimed at the development of the railway network in the area by upgrading the connection with the port of Volos, the redrawing of the Volos-Larissa railway line up to Latomeio, the creation of new urban type of railway stops at the Volos Railway Station and the start of work on the electrification of the same railway line, while at the same time the goal was to extend the network to Almyros, the Almyros Railway Station, where large industrial complexes operate, as well as a connection to the airport of Volos in Nea Aghialos.

All this was mentioned by the deputy minister Christos Triandopoulos when he still held the portfolio of Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and gradually, after they had matured as prospects, they would take the path of implementation.

The situation is also bad for “Moutzouri”, the famous train of Pelion, which stopped running due to damage and landslides on the line between Ano Lechonia and Mileon, as a result of which thousands arrive on cruise ships in Volos, looking for the “Moutzouri” experience ” and be disappointed by the unpleasant news of its non-operation.

The destruction was great even inside the facilities of the railway station of Volos, after train maintenance sheds, walls collapsed, parked trains and technological maintenance equipment were dismantled and kilometers of railway lines were uprooted or destroyed.

Fortunately, the famous and well-preserved railway station of Volos, a 19th-century project designed by Evaristo de Chirico, father of Giorgio De Chirico, who was the man who designed and built the Pelion train, remained almost unscathed.

The difficult situation has troubled the Association of Industries of Thessaly and Central Greece as well as the Chamber of Magnesia, who are worried about the effects on the businesses of the region from the “stop” of the railway for more than two years.

The president of the Chamber of Magnesia Telis Basdanis he said that “the companies that used the trains for the products they produce, we know that it will be difficult and especially the companies that export their production to Europe and the main means of transport has always been the railway. A solution must be found soon, but what was planned must not be left behind or postponed. There will clearly be delays, because something unexpected happened, but no cancellations.”

And the head of the Greek-Italian Chamber of Volos, George Malamakis speaking to APE-MPE, he emphasized that “products from the region were leaving for Italy by train. From olives and apples to iron ores. And they reached Trieste first and then all over Italy. Now we will inevitably turn to either sea or road transport”.

To the economic impact must be added the social problem created by the movement of people. Hundreds of passengers who commute daily between Volos and Larissa face major problems. These are workers and students or even ordinary travelers who preferred the cheap solution of the train. Today, this entire population is forced to use buses or cars at a similar cost.

The consequences of the lack of the railway in Thessaly will be seen in the near future when the account is taken. It is everyone’s wish that the restoration of the network is done as quickly as possible, that the new infrastructures are better and that the plans do not remain in drawers or get lost over time.