Diakopto railway station ( el, Σιδηροδρομικός Σταθμός Διακοπτού, Sidirodromikós Stathmós Diakoptoú) is located just north of

Diakopto Diakopto ( el, Διακοπτό) is a coastal town municipality in Achaea, West Greece, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reforms it is a municipal unit of the Aigialeia municipality. The municipal unit has an area of 103.932 km2. Popul ...

, Achaea,

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders ...

. Originally opened on 10 March 1896, it was reopened on 22 June 2020 as part of the

Hellenic Railways Organisation The Hellenic Railways Organisation or OSE ( el, Οργανισμός Σιδηροδρόμων Ελλάδος, italic=yes or el, Ο.Σ.Ε.) is the Greek national railway company which owns, maintains and operates all railway infrastructure in ...

's €848-million project extension of the

Athens Airport–Patras railway The railway from Athens Airport to Patras is a double-track, standard-gauge railway line in Greece that, when completed, will connect Athens International Airport with Patras, the country's third-largest city. One of the largest railway projects ...

Aigio Aigio, also written as ''Aeghion, Aegion, Aegio, Egio'' ( el, Αίγιο, Aígio, ; la, Aegium), is a town and a former municipality in Achaea, West Greece, on the Peloponnese. Since the 2011 local government reform, it is part of the municipal ...

, co-financed by the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

's Cohesion Fund 2000–2006. The station is currently served by both the unique

rack railway A rack railway (also rack-and-pinion railway, cog railway, or cogwheel railway) is a steep grade railway with a toothed rack rail, usually between the running rails. The trains are fitted with one or more cog wheels or pinions that mesh with th ...

Kalavryta Kalavryta ( el, Καλάβρυτα) is a town and a municipality in the mountainous east-central part of the regional unit of Achaea, Greece. The town is located on the right bank of the river Vouraikos, south of Aigio, southeast of Patras and ...

and the Athens Suburban Railway between and .

History

The Station opened on 10 March 1896, on what was a

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Industrial spur An industr ...

of the Piraeus, Athens & Peloponnese Railways (SPAP) when the gauge line was completed in 1895. The line opened under the government of Theodoros Diligiannis however, work had been begun by the

Charilaos Trikoupis Charilaos Trikoupis ( el, Χαρίλαος Τρικούπης; 11 July 1832 – 30 March 1896) was a Greek politician who served as a Prime Minister of Greece seven times from 1875 until 1895. He is best remembered for introducing the vote of c ...

government, under the grand project of connecting all of Greece by rail. The French company ATON with Italian craftsmen's assistant, who had acquired great experience in similar projects in the Alps, built the line. The construction of the network began in 1889 and was completed in 1895. 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 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 A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, with normal service levels resumed around 1948. Between 2007 and 2009, the entire rail and cogwheel components of the

Diakopto–Kalavryta railway The Diakopto–Kalavryta railway ( el, Οδοντωτός σιδηρόδρομος Διακοπτού - Καλαβρύτων, Odontotós sidiródromos Diakoptoú - Kalavrýton) is a historic 750 mm (2 ft -in) gauge rack railway in Greec ...

were completely replaced, and four new modern trains were constructed to replace the older carriages. In 2008, the Athens Suburban Railway was transferred from OSE to TrainOSE. In 2009, with the

Greek debt crisis Greece faced a sovereign debt crisis in the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2007–2008. Widely known in the country as The Crisis (Greek: Η Κρίση), it reached the populace as a series of sudden reforms and austerity measures that l ...

unfolding OSE's Management was forced to reduce services across the network. Timetables were cutback and routes closed, as the government-run entity attempted to reduce overheads, this included all passenger and freight services on the metre gauge railway system in the Peloponnese in 2011. However, Diakopto remained open, serving the

. In 2018, work to incorporate the station into the

commenced, requiring the conversion of the old

metre-gauge Metre-gauge railways are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. The metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by European colonial powers, such as the French, British and German Empires. In Europe, la ...

track to standard gauge. In 2019 services were suspended due to a landslide. The station was reopened on 22 June 2020 by

Minister for Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government ag ...

Kostas Karamanlis Konstantinos A. Karamanlis ( el, Κωνσταντίνος Αλεξάνδρου Καραμανλής; born 14 September 1956), commonly known as Kostas Karamanlis ( el, Κώστας Καραμανλής, ), is a Greek politician who served as the ...

, re-establishing direct rail links with Athens via the Athens Suburban Railway. In July 2022, the station began being served by

Hellenic Train Hellenic Train S.A., formerly TrainOSE S.A. ( el, ΤραινΟΣΕ Α.Ε., pronounced ''trenosé'') is a private railway company in Greece which currently operates passenger and freight trains on OSE lines. TrainOSE was acquired in September 201 ...

, the rebranded TrainOSE.

Facilities

There is level access from the small car park at the front of the station. It has two

island platform An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular on ...

s, with station buildings located at the platform level. The Station buildings are equipped only with a waiting area. At platform level, there are sheltered seating and

Dot-matrix display A dot-matrix display is a low cost electronic digital display device that displays information on machines such as clocks, watches, calculators, and many other devices requiring a simple alphanumeric (and/or graphic) display device of limited res ...

departure and arrival screens and timetable poster boards on both platforms. It is equipped with CCTV, fire detection and Honeywell Security systems. Currently, there is no local bus stop connecting the station.

Services

Since 15 May 2022, this station serves the following routes: * Athens Suburban Railway Line 5 between and , with six trains per day in each direction: passengers have to change at Kiato for Line 2 trains towards and . The station is also served by the following

route: * The historic 750 mm (2 ft -in) gauge

known locally as (''Odontotós'', "Cogwheel") to

Station layout

Gallery

File:01.11.92 Διακοπτό Diakopto A.9112 (5803670455).jpg, A.9112 seen at Diakopto, 1 November 1992 File:Diakofto.jpg, Diakofto station, 2005 File:01.11.92 Διακοπτό Diakopto AA6454 (5804241758).jpg, Several Ganz Mavag DMU's pulling into Diakopto on 1 November 1992 is set AA6454, a 4-car version used on long-distance trains, 1 November 1992. File:Diakofto Engine Station.jpg, New (Stadler) and old (Decauville) rolling stock of the Diakofto-Kalavrita rack railway at Diakofto Engine Station. April 2009. File:X3.05 Bf Diakoftó, VT 6526 (MAN Nahverkehr).jpg, Train crossing in Diakoftó station, the MAN double DMU travels in the direction of Patra. In contrast to the IC units, which were only intended for the Peloponnisos network from the start. The place-name signs of this station only contained the Katharevousa form Diakoptón until it was closed, October 2005. File:Diakofto Kalavrita railway (1).jpg, Diakofto-Kalavrita railway station, July 2009 File:Diakofto Kalavrita railway (3).jpg, Station signage, July 2009

References