End of September remote control on the Athens-Thessaloniki line

In his statement, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras referred to the steps being taken to modernize signaling and remote control as well as to install ETCS (a system necessary for the safe movement of trains) on the railway line SKA – Promachonas.

These are the projects included in the infamous contract 717 and which, after many years of unjustified delays, remain pending. Already, as stated by Mr. Staikouras, “after the necessary tests were carried out, the administrative acceptance from ERGOSE to OSE of the signaling of the section of the double line from Larissa to Platis, 130 km long.”

“With the completion of this part, full signaling now works in the sections of Ag. Anargyroi – Oinoi and remote control from Tithorea to Thessaloniki, as well as from Thessaloniki to Promachona,” says Mr. Staikouras.

At the same time, the Traffic Control Center (TCC) of Larissa was handed over, which controls the traffic of trains on a length of 200 km of double railway line, in the section from Domokos to Platis. “KEK Larisa is a state-of-the-art remote control center, which has all the necessary means for traffic control and management.” As the relevant announcement states, at the end of September it is estimated that the last signaling section will also be open to traffic, i.e. the one from Oinoi to Tithorea, which will be controlled by the traffic control center of the SKA – Tithorea section. With the delivery of the specific section, the axis from the Athens exit to Thessaloniki will be fully remote-controlled. “In this way, the implementation of the AS 717 contract, i.e. the contract for the installation of signaling and remote control”, says Mr. Staikouras. With reference to the place where the accident happened in Tempi, information from ERGOSE clarifies that from today all stations will be remotely controlled from Larissa in a trial operation for ten days and from August 20, OSE will operate remote control and signaling to everyone as normal the stations. Regarding the ETCS, “it is estimated that by the end of November the ETCS train monitoring and control system will be operating along the entire length from SKA to Thessaloniki”.

Source: Daily