Athens railway station

"Athens station" and "Larissa Station" redirect here. For the railway station in Ohio, see Athens station (Ohio). For the railway station in the city of Larissa, see Larissa railway station.

Athens railway station (Greek: Σιδηροδρομικός Σταθμός Αθηνών, romanized: Sidirodromikos Stathmos Athinon) is the main railway station of Athens, and the second largest station in Greece. Located in the central quarter of Kolonos, the railway station resulted from the merger of two separate railway terminals in 2005—Larissa station (Σταθμός Λαρίσης, Stathmos Larisis) of the Piraeus–Platy railway towards central and northern Greece, and the Peloponnese station (Σταθμός Πελοποννήσου, Stathmos Peloponnisou) of the Piraeus–Patras railway that formerly linked Athens with the Peloponnese.

Αθήνα Athina Σταθμός Λαρίσης Larissa Station
View of the station building, January 2019
General information
Location	Domokou Avenue, Kolonos Athens Greece
Coordinates	37°59′32.24″N 23°43′14″E / 37.9922889°N 23.72056°E / 37.9922889; 23.72056
Owned by	GAIAOSE (Rail)^[1] STASY (Metro)
Managed by	OSE (Rail) STASY (Metro)
Line(s)	Piraeus–Platy railway^[2]
Platforms	6 (3 operational)
Tracks	10 (4 operational)
Construction
Structure type	Underground
Platform levels	2
Parking	Yes
Bicycle facilities	No
Accessible
Architectural style	Modern
Other information
Status	Staffed
Fare zone	1
Website	Official website
Key dates
8 March 1904	Railway station opened^[3]
28 January 2000	Metro station opened^[4]
30 July 2004	Suburban Railway opened
Services
Preceding station Hellenic Train Following station Terminus InterCity Express Larissa towards Thessaloniki InterCity Athens–Kalambaka Oinoi towards Kalambaka InterCity Athens–Thessaloniki Oinoi towards Thessaloniki Preceding station Suburban Rail Following station Rouf towards Piraeus Line A1 Agioi Anargyroi towards Athens Airport Line A4 Agioi Anargyroi towards Kiato Terminus Line A3 Agioi Anargyroi towards Chalcis Preceding station Athens Metro Following station Attiki towards Anthoupoli Line 2 Metaxourgeio towards Elliniko
Location

Athens railway station Line structure
Diagram not to scale
Legend
to SKA/Thessaloniki to Piraeus

The station is still colloquially known as Larissa Station,^[5] and is also the name of the adjacent Athens Metro station.

History

Inaugurated in 1904, the station was named after the city of Larissa (then the northernmost city of the Kingdom of Greece) and the one nearest the northern terminus of the standard-gauge Piraeus–Papapouli railway.^[5] The adjacent Peloponnese Station, inaugurated on 30 June 1884, was served by the metre-gauge Piraeus–Patras railway to the Peloponnese. In 1920 Hellenic State Railways or SEK was established; however, many railways, such as the SPAP continued to be run as a separate company, becoming an independent company once more two years later.

Due to growing debts, the SPAP came under government control between 1939 and 1940. During the Axis occupation of Greece (1941–44), Athens was controlled by German military forces, and the line was used for the transport of troops and weapons. During the occupation (and especially during the German withdrawal in 1944), the network was severely damaged by both the German army and Greek resistance groups. The track and rolling stock replacement took time following the civil war, with regular service levels resumed around 1948. In 1954 SPAP was nationalized once more. In 1962 the SPAP was amalgamated into SEK.^[6] In 1970, OSE became the legal successor to the SEK, taking over responsibilities for most of Greece's rail infrastructure. On 1 January 1971, the station and most of the Greek rail infrastructure were transferred to the Hellenic Railways Organisation S.A., a state-owned corporation. Freight traffic declined sharply when the state-imposed monopoly of OSE for the transport of agricultural products and fertilisers ended in the early 1990s.

In 2003, the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) launched the Athens Suburban Railway (Proastiakos) as a subsidiary responsible for the establishment of a suburban rail network in the Athens metropolitan area for the 2004 Summer Olympics. Peloponnese Station was closed on 7 August 2005, along with the metre-gauge line between Piraeus and Agioi Anargyroi. Its services were transferred to Larissis Station upon the opening of the Suburban Railway line to Corinth on 27 September 2005.^[7][8] In 2005, TrainOSE was created as a brand within OSE to concentrate on rail services and passenger interface. In 2008, all Athens Suburban Railway services were transferred from OSE to TrainOSE.

The final service departed the unmodernized Larissis Station on 4 June 2017 before it was closed for various upgrades, including the installation of a railway electrification system.^[9] The upgraded station was reopened on 30 July 2017.^[10] The Athens Metro station, inaugurated on 28 January 2000, lies underground and is served by Line 2 between Anthoupoli and Elliniko. In July 2022, the station began being served by Hellenic Train, the rebranded TrainOSE.^[11]

Facilities

The station comprises a large, two-floor building in central Athens. Three platforms and four tracks are currently in use. The second phase of upgrades is underway, including the construction of new tracks and platforms, a central underpass connecting all platforms and the metro station, additional pedestrian underpasses and overpasses, building restoration works and an overhaul of road traffic surrounding the station.^[12] In the meantime, trains will continue to use the platforms and tracks built during the previous upgrade, located where the goods yard of the old Peloponnese Station once stood.^[13]

Services

Current services

Various Hellenic Train services call at the mainline station, including the InterCity and InterCity Express (ETR) service towards Larissa and Thessaloniki, and the Athens Suburban Railway towards the rest of Attica and the northern coast of the Peloponnese.^[14]

Since 15 May 2022, the following weekday services call at this station:

• InterCity Express (ETR): two trains per day in each direction, to Thessaloniki;^[15]
• InterCity (IC): five trains per day in each direction to Thessaloniki with additional stops, and one train per day in each direction, to Kalambaka;^[15]
• Athens Suburban Railway Line A1 between Piraeus and Athens Airport, with up to one train per hour;^[16]
• Athens Suburban Railway Line A3 towards Chalcis, with up to one train every two hours, and one extra train during the peak hours;^[17]
• Athens Suburban Railway Line A4 between Piraeus and Kiato, with up to one train per hour.^[18]

The underground Larissa Station is served by Athens Metro Line 2 trains towards Anthoupoli to the north, and Elliniko to the south.^[19]

Former services

During the twentieth century, especially in the first half, Athens station was the terminus for some international trains, such as an Express to Berlin (departing from the former Anhalter Bahnhof) or the "Arlberg"^[20] route of the Orient Express (London-Athens via Paris-Zürich-Vienna-Budapest-Belgrade-Skopje), in service until 1962 and then of the Direct Orient Express (Paris-Lausanne-Venice-Ljubljana-Zagreb-Belgrade-Skopje) until 1976.^[21]

Upgrades

The work comprises the construction of lines 1-6, part of the underground crossing providing a connection to all the platforms and the connection to “Larissa” station, of Attiko Metro S.A. as well as the inclusion of provisional sheds and E/M works at ground level. The works will be implemented without rail traffic interruption, with the electrified right half corridor of the Railway Station (Lines 7-10) in operation and the uninterrupted passenger access from the east (Diligianni street) and the west (Konstantinoupoleos street) secured.^[22]

Gallery

•  

  View of the station with metre gauge and normal gauge rails, 1979.

•  

  A Athens Suburban Railway DMU at the station in 2005, before electrification in 2017.

•  

  An Alstom first-generation EMU at the metro station, 2010.

•  

  The heritage-listed building of the now closed Peloponnese Station, 2007.

See also

• Railway stations in Greece
• Hellenic Railways Organisation
• Hellenic Train
• Thessaloniki railway station
• P.A.Th.E./P.
• Athens Suburban Railway
• Railways of Greece

References

1. "Home". gaiaose.com.
2. "Annexes". Network Statement (PDF) (2023 ed.). Athens: Hellenic Railways Organization. 17 January 2023. pp. 1–2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2023. Retrieved 24 September 2023.
3. The Greek Railways (in Greek). Athens: Militos. 1997. p. 77. ISBN 9608460077.
4. Delezos, Kostas (28 January 2000). . Ta Nea (in Greek). Athens: Alter Ego Media. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
5. ""Larissa Station", or Athens Railway Station". Athens: Hellenic Train. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
6. Ν. 4246/1962
7. "Athens Guide: Trains in Greece". www.athensguide.com. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
8. "Σε μία ώρα στην Κόρινθο από αύριο ο Προαστιακός". Naftemporiki (in Greek). Athens. 26 September 2005. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
9. "Electrification of 3 Gefires – Piraeus". ERGOSE. 5 September 2018. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
10. "Δελτίο Τύπου 28/07/2017 - Νέος χάρτης γραμμών και δρομολογίων στον Προαστιακό Σιδηρόδρομο Αθήνας από την Κυριακή 30 Ιουλίου 2017" (in Greek). TrainOSE. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
11. "TrainOSE renamed Hellenic Train, eyes expansion". Kathimerini. Athens. 2 July 2022. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
12. "Completion of Athens Railway station upgrading – Phase B". ERGOSE. 21 March 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
13. "Μεταμορφώθηκε ο Σταθμός Λαρίσης με τις νέες Αποβάθρες". Ypodomes.com (in Greek). 7 July 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
14. "Athens Suburban Railway". Athens: Hellenic Train. Retrieved 14 August 2022.
15. "Hellenic Train Ticketing". Hellenic Train. Athens. 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
16. Antoniou, George (20 June 2022). (PDF). Hellenic Train. Athens. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
    Antoniou, George (20 June 2022). (PDF). Hellenic Train. Athens. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
17. Antoniou, George (20 June 2022). (PDF). Hellenic Train. Athens. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
18. Antoniou, George (20 June 2022). (PDF). Hellenic Train. Athens. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2022. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
19. (PDF). STASY (in Greek). Athens. 11 October 2022. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
20. See map on Commons
21. "Darstaed TP - gauge '0' tin plate trains - Your stop for a ride through the past". www.darstaed.com. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
22. "Completion of Athens Railway station upgrading – Phase B".

External links

• Athens railway station - National Railway Network Greek Travel Pages

  Media related to Athens Larissa Station at Wikimedia Commons