Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Staikouras reconfirmed last week that “18 full years after the signing of the basic contract for the project, on April 26, 2006, Thessaloniki will have a metro.”
The city’s public transport will be reorganized, transitioning from a one-dimensional urban transport system reliant solely on buses, to a dual system with buses and the metro.
The main metro line will have 18 trains without drivers (there will be an attendant for safety). Its maximum carrying capacity will be 18,000 people per hour in each direction, for a total of 254,000 passengers, which is expected to increase to 350,000 with the addition of 15 more trains.
Residents of Thessaloniki have anticipated the completion and operation of the metro system in the city for many years, as heavy road traffic is a persistent issue in the daily life of Greece’s second most crowded city.