Karamanlis: Piraeus to become transport hub
Major infrastructure projects planned in Piraeus will transform the country’s biggest port into a true transport hub, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kostas A. Karamanlis told radio station Kanali 1 on Friday.
These will include a plan, to be unveiled in 2022, to turn the overground electric railway (Athens metro Line 1) into an underground line, he revealed.
“The electric railway currently cuts the city into two. There will be an urban redevelopment – it will go underground. Within the next six to eight months, we are ready, together with the mayor, to update the study and say when the work will begin, how much it will cost, when it will be completed and how it will be financed,” he said.
Karamanlis noted that three new metro stations due to be ready in the summer will link the port of Piraeus directly with Athens International Airport in what will be a 50-minute journey.
He also mentioned new roads that are being built in the area, such as the Aigaleo ring road and the Salamina-Perama undersea tunnel, which is due to receive environmental approval.
The minister described investment in infrastructure projects as a national strategy which is aimed at turning Greece into a transport and logistics hub for the wider region, with railroads as one of the most important elements.
Under this plan, he said, the port of Piraeus will be able to receive products from Southeast Asia, while the port of Thessaloniki will be an exit port for products from the Balkans.
