Construction begins on Metro extension

Work begins today on one of three additions to the Athens Metro due to be completed by the 2004 Olympic Games: The eastward extension of the Sepolia-Dafni line to Ilioupolis, which is budgeted at 57.268 million euros (19.5 billion drachmas). The consortium of AEGEK and METON SA has 680 days to complete the project, including a 1,216-meter-long tunnel, the station at Ilioupolis and three ventilation ducts. A 570-meter section of the tunnel will be two-way. The other two sections that must be completed before the Games are the extension of the Ethniki Amyna line to Stavros, to be ready by May 2004, and, a month later, the Sepolia line westward to Aghios Antonios. A section of track from Syntagma to Monastiraki is scheduled to open at the end of this year. All other extensions are to be completed after the Olympic Games – Aghios Antonios to Peristeri and Thivon by December 2006, the construction of the Holargos, Nomismatokopeio and the Aghia Paraskevi stations on the Ethniki Amyna-Stavros line by June 2006, and the Monastiraki to Aegaleo link by June 2005, with two intermediate stations.