''Egnatia Railway'' is a planned railway line between

Alexandroupolis Alexandroupolis ( el, Αλεξανδρούπολη, ), Alexandroupoli, or Alexandrople is a city in Greece and the capital of the Evros regional unit. It is the largest city in Western Thrace and the region of Eastern Macedonia and Thrace. It ...

and

Igoumenitsa Igoumenitsa ( el, Ηγουμενίτσα, ) is a coastal city in northwestern Greece. It is the capital of the regional unit of Thesprotia. Igoumenitsa is the chief port of Thesprotia and Epirus, and one of the largest passenger ports of Greece, ...

in northern

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 with ...

. The project is planned to include existing track upgrades as well as new track. The projected cost of this project is €10 billion.

Background

The Egnatia Railway consists of multiple smaller scale projects: *the line from

Thessaloniki Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its Thessaloniki metropolitan area, metropolitan area, and the capi ...

: electrification and installation of advanced signaling and telecommunication systems, wherever necessary, and new routing in selected subsections. This includes a section of new track from

Xanthi Xanthi ( el, Ξάνθη, ''Xánthi'', ) is a city in the region of Western Thrace, northeastern Greece. It is the capital of the Xanthi (regional unit), Xanthi regional unit of the modern regions of Greece, region of East Macedonia and Thrace. A ...

to Thessaloniki via

Kavala Kavala ( el, Καβάλα, ''Kavála'' ) is a city in northern Greece, the principal seaport of eastern Macedonia and the capital of Kavala regional unit. It is situated on the Bay of Kavala, across from the island of Thasos and on the Egnat ...

(projected to cost €1.25 billion), which will shorten the journey between the two by three hours. *Thessaloniki-

Kozani Kozani ( el, Κοζάνη, ) is a city in northern Greece, capital of Kozani (regional unit), Kozani regional unit and of Western Macedonia. It is located in the western part of Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, in the northern part of the Aliakmona ...

: electrification and signaling, *Kozani-

Krystallopigi Krystallopigi ( el, Κρυσταλλοπηγή) is a former community in Florina regional unit, West Macedonia, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Prespes, of which it is a municipal unit. The municipal ...

: electrification and signaling, construction of new line for the subsection

Florina Florina ( el, Φλώρινα, ''Flórina''; known also by some alternative names) is a town and municipality in the mountainous northwestern Macedonia, Greece. Its motto is, 'Where Greece begins'. The town of Florina is the capital of the F ...

–Krystallopigi, *Kozani-

: new line construction via

Ioannina Ioannina ( el, Ιωάννινα ' ), often called Yannena ( ' ) within Greece, is the capital and largest city of the Ioannina regional unit and of Epirus, an administrative region in north-western Greece. According to the 2011 census, the c ...

to connect with Igoumenitsa Port.

Planning

Between 2017 and 2020 was completed the project design of the Thessaloniki-Amfipoli-Kavala section. A new rail line was planned as a single line with potential for being doubled in future. The new line has design speed of 200 km/h and total length of 174 km, including 9 km bridges and 22 km tunnels. The environmental assessment of the Thessaloniki - Nea Karvali section was announced ready and approved on 14 March 2022. As of 2022, the feasibility studies of the Kalambaka-Ioannina-Igoumenitsa section were still on-going. A new line of approximately 154 km was planned, having a design speed of 160 km/h, electrification,

ETCS The European Train Control System (ETCS) is the signalling and control component of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS). It is a replacement for legacy train protection systems and designed to replace the many incompatible s ...

signaling and remote control.

Construction

In 2019,

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 ...

awarded the contract to build the initial section between Xanthi and Kavala at a cost of €250 million.
In december 2021, ERGOSE SA published a tender note for the construction of the line between Thessaloniki and Toxotes railway station. Deadline for submission of expressions of interest is set at 14/01/2022. Three companies enlisted to participate.

Costs

The cost is estimated at EUR 10bn but the final cost will be determined when studies completed. The project cost break down: *Thessaloniki-Alexandroupolis: €1,8bn (Section Alexandroupolis – Xanthi, €300m, Section Xanthi – Kavala – Thessaloniki, €1,5bn) *Thessaloniki-Kozani: €800m *Kozani-Igoumenitsa (incl. c) Kozani - Krystallopigi - Florina): €7,4bn The proposed business model is that of a PPP. The construction and operation of the project will be undertaken by a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV). Sources of revenues include rail exploitation and logistics services revenues. The funding will be from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), and probably from EIB and EU programmes.

Other projects

A link from Krystallopigi into

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

is also proposed. The planned ovrhaul of the

Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad railway The Alexandroupoli–Svilengrad railway ( el, Σιδηροδρομική γραμμή Αλεξανδρούπολης - Σβίλενγκραντ, Sidiródromos Alexandroúpolis-Svílen'nkrant) is a long railway connecting the port of Alexandroup ...

aims to ensure link of the ''Egnatia Railway'' with the Sea2Sea railway corridor.

References