Transport in

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 ...

has undergone significant changes in the past two decades, vastly modernizing the country's infrastructure and transportation. Although ferry transport between islands remains the prominent method of transport between the nation's islands, improvements to the road infrastructure, rail, urban transport, and airports have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. These upgrades have played a key role in supporting Greece's economy, which in the past decade has come to rely heavily on the construction industry.

Cable transport

Attica 06-13 Athens 48 Lycabettus railway car

* Lycabettus Funicular * Parnitha Funitel *

Santorini cable car The Santorini cable car connects the port with the town of Thera in Santorini island in Greece. It was constructed as a donation of the “Loula & Evangelos Nomikos Foundation”. The cable car, technically a pulsed Gondola lift ...

Rail transport

Railways

*total: , ( are, or will be, electrified) *

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

: gauge * narrow gauge: gauge; gauge *

dual gauge In railway engineering, "gauge" is the transverse distance between the inner surfaces of the heads of two rails, which for the vast majority of railway lines is the number of rails in place. However, it is sometimes necessary for track to c ...

: combined and gauges (three rail system) (2004) The state-owned company that owns and maintains Greece's railway network is OSE, while

TrainOSE 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 ...

is the company responsible for operating all passenger and freight trains.

Metro

AMEL 1st Generation Stock C21 at Syngrou-Fix Station

Cities with a

rapid transit Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be c ...

railway network: * Athens Metro (3 lines) (1 under construction) *

Thessaloniki Metro The Thessaloniki Metro ( el, Μετρό Θεσσαλονίκης, ', ) is an underground rapid-transit system under construction in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. Estimates for the cost of the megaproject are €1.62 billion ...

(2 lines) (''under construction'')

Commuter rail

Cities with a

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

network (

Proastiakos The Proastiakos ( el, Προαστιακός; "suburban") is Greece's Commuter rail service, run by Hellenic Train, on rail infrastructure owned by the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) (lines) and GAIAOSE (buildings and Trains). These servic ...

): *

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

(5 lines) *

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 ...

(2 lines) *

Patras ) , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 = , demographics1_info2 = , timezone1 = EET , utc_offset1 = +2 , ...

(2 lines)

Tram

* Athens Tram * List of town tramway systems in Greece

Road transport

Highways

*As of 2017, Greece has 2500 km of

motorways A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

. Roads: *total: 117,000 km *paved: 107,406 km *unpaved: 9,594 km (1996 est.) *over 2500 tunnels (est.)

Bus transport

Urban bus transport

*OSY subsidiary of

OASA The Athens Mass Transit System is the largest mass transit system of Greece. The system is run by the OASA S.A. organisation and serves Athens Urban Area and the Athens Metropolitan Area (most of the Region of Attica without the island section) ...

organizes mass bus (Busses and trolleybuses) transit in

. *

OASTH The Thessaloniki Urban Transport Organisation ( el, Οργανισμός Αστικών Συγκοινωνιών Θεσσαλονίκης), abbreviated OASTH ( el, ΟΑΣΘ), is a mass transport company operating in Thessaloniki, Greece. It w ...

organizes mass bus transit in

. *Companies named ''Astiko KTEL'' provide mass bus transit in many of the other cities of

Intercity and regional bus transport

KTEL is the common name for every company which is responsible for intercity and regional bus transit. Most of the regional units, though, have their own regional network of buses, and have their regional unit names labeled on KTEL vehicles that operate there. (e.g. KTEL Argolidas). There are 4 major bus terminals in Greece, the biggest is in Thessaloniki ( Macedonia Inter city bus terminal) which serves all of Greece while Athens has 2 separate bus terminals serving different parts of Greece ( Kifissos bus terminal and Liossion bus terminal). A new Athens bus terminal in

Elaionas Elaionas (, , sometimes Anglicized as Eleonas) is a neighborhood in Central Athens, Greece. It is an industrial area and one of the most deprived areas of the municipality of Athens. History The area was named for the fact that in antiquity it ...

will replace the two separate terminals and serve all of Greece with completion by 2025. A new bus terminal in Patras which will replace the old one is currently under construction in Agios Dionyssios just 200m from the current one and it will open in early 2023 after many delays due to

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

and the

2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. An ...

Water transport

Waterways

The 80 km system consists of three coastal canals including the Corinth Canal (6 km) and three unconnected rivers. The Corinth Canal crosses the

Isthmus of Corinth The Isthmus of Corinth (Greek: Ισθμός της Κορίνθου) is the narrow land bridge which connects the Peloponnese peninsula with the rest of the mainland of Greece, near the city of Corinth. The word "isthmus" comes from the Ancien ...

, connecting the

Gulf of Corinth The Gulf of Corinth or the Corinthian Gulf ( el, Κορινθιακός Kόλπος, ''Korinthiakόs Kόlpos'', ) is a deep inlet of the Ionian Sea, separating the Peloponnese from western mainland Greece. It is bounded in the east by the Isth ...

with the

Saronic Gulf The Saronic Gulf (Greek: Σαρωνικός κόλπος, ''Saronikós kólpos'') or Gulf of Aegina in Greece is formed between the peninsulas of Attica and Argolis and forms part of the Aegean Sea. It defines the eastern side of the isthmus of Co ...

; and shortens the sea voyage from the

Adriatic The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Sea) ...

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

by 325 km.

Ports and harbours

* Alexandroupoli *

Argostoli Argostoli ( el, Αργοστόλι, Katharevousa: Ἀργοστόλιον) is a town and a municipality on the island of Kefalonia, Ionian Islands, Greece. Since the 2019 local government reform it is one of the three municipalities on the island ...

Elefsina Elefsina ( el, Ελευσίνα ''Elefsina''), or Eleusis (; Ancient Greek: ''Eleusis'') is a suburban city and municipality in the West Attica regional unit of Greece. It is situated about northwest from the centre of Athens and is part of i ...

* Ermoupolis *

Heraklion Heraklion or Iraklion ( ; el, Ηράκλειο, , ) is the largest city and the administrative capital of the island of Crete and capital of Heraklion regional unit. It is the fourth largest city in Greece with a population of 211,370 (Urban A ...

Crete Crete ( el, Κρήτη, translit=, Modern: , Ancient: ) is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the 88th largest island in the world and the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and ...

* Kalamata *

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 ...

Kerkyra Corfu (, ) or Kerkyra ( el, Κέρκυρα, Kérkyra, , ; ; la, Corcyra.) is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the margin of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The is ...

* Kos * Chalkis * Igoumenitsa * Lavrio *

Port of Thessaloniki The Customs House, now passenger terminal, in the early 1900s. The Port of Thessaloniki ( el, Λιμάνι της Θεσσαλονίκης) is one of the largest seaports in the Eastern Mediterranean. It is considered the gateway Port to the Balk ...

* Volos * Katakolo *

Mykonos Mykonos (, ; el, Μύκονος ) is a Greek island, part of the Cyclades, lying between Tinos, Syros, Paros and Naxos. The island has an area of and rises to an elevation of at its highest point. There are 10,134 inhabitants according to the ...

* Mytilene *

Rhodes (city) Rhodes ( el, Ρόδος, ''Ródos'' ) is the principal city and a former municipality on the island of Rhodes in the Dodecanese, Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform it is part of the municipality Rhodes, of which it is the seat and a m ...

* Souda * Syros

Merchant marine

*total: 3,338 ships (with a volume of or over) totaling

*ships by type (1999 est.) :*

bulk carrier A bulk carrier or bulker is a merchant ship specially designed to transport unpackaged bulk cargo — such as grains, coal, ore, steel coils, and cement — in its cargo holds. Since the first specialized bulk carrier was built in 1852, econom ...

: 273 :*

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

: 60 :*

chemical tanker A chemical tanker is a type of tanker ship designed to transport chemicals in bulk. As defined in MARPOL Annex II, chemical tanker means a ship constructed or adapted for carrying in bulk any liquid product listed in chapter 17 of the Internat ...

: 22 :*combination bulk: 5 :*combination ore/oil: 8 :*

container ship A container ship (also called boxship or spelled containership) is a cargo ship that carries all of its load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. Container ships are a common means of commercial intermodal ...

: 43 :* Liquified Gas Carrier: 5 :*multi-functional large load carrier: 1 :*

passenger ship A passenger ship is a merchant ship whose primary function is to carry passengers on the sea. The category does not include cargo vessels which have accommodations for limited numbers of passengers, such as the ubiquitous twelve-passenger freig ...

: 12 :*passenger/cargo: 2 :*

petroleum tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined cru ...

: 245 :*refrigerated cargo: 3 :*

roll-on/roll-off ship Roll-on/roll-off (RORO or ro-ro) ships are cargo ships designed to carry wheeled cargo, such as cars, motorcycles, trucks, semi-trailer trucks, buses, trailers, and railroad cars, that are driven on and off the ship on their own wheels or using ...

: 19 :*short-sea passenger: 75 :*specialized tanker: 4 :*vehicle carrier: 2

Airports

*total: 82 (2005) *With paved runways: 67 :*over 3,047 m: 5 :*2,438–3,047 m: 16 :*1,524–2,437 m: 19 :*914–1,523 m: 17 :*under 914 m: 10 (2005) *With unpaved runways: 15 :*914 to 1,523 m: 3 :*under 914 m: 12 (2005) *heliports: 8 (2005)

Pipelines

*crude oil: 26 km *petroleum products: 547 km

Major construction projects

Completed projects

Motorways

* Central Greece Motorway * Egnatia Odos ''670 km (420 mi)'' ** Motorway 25 ** Motorway 29 ''77 km (48 mi)'' *

Ionia Odos The Greek Motorway 5 ( el, Αυτοκινητόδρομος 5; code: A5) is a motorway in Greece. The motorway, commonly referred to as Ionia Odos ( el, Ιόνια Οδός) or Ionia Motorway, starts at Ioannina and it follows the western coastlin ...

"196 km (122 mi)" * Motorway 1 (ATHE) ''550 km (340 mi)'' * Attiki Odos ''69.7 km (43.3 mi)'' * Moreas Motorway ''205 km (127 mi)'' *

Olympia Odos Olympia Odos is a toll motorway system on the Peloponnese in Greece. Starting from Eleusis in the Athens metropolitan area, the Olympia Odos motorways follow the Gulf of Corinth to the Rio–Antirrio bridge and the city of Patras, and along ...

''210 km (130 mi)'' * Rio–Antirrio bridge ''2,880 metre long (9,449 ft) (2nd longest cable bridge in Europe''

Railways

Athens Airport–Patras railway The railway from Athens Airport to Patras is a double-track railway, 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 lar ...

(completed until Aigio) *

Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli railway The Thessaloniki–Alexandroupoli railway is an about 440 km long railway in northern Greece connecting the Central Macedonian city of Thessaloniki with Alexandroupoli in Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, via Serres. There is a connection towards ...

* Athens Metro :*

Line 1 Line 1 or 1 line may refer to: Public transport Africa * Line 1 (Algiers Metro), Algeria * Cairo Metro Line 1, Egypt Asia China * Line 1 (Beijing Subway) * Line 1 (Changchun Rail Transit) * Line 1 (Changsha Metro) * Line 1 (Changzhou Metro) * L ...

Line 2 Line 2 or 2 Line may refer to: Public transport Americas *2 (New York City Subway service), a rapid transit service in the A Division of the New York City Subway *2 Line (Sound Transit), a light rail line in Seattle, Washington *Line 2 Bloor–Dan ...

:* Line 3 * Athens Tram

Ports and harbours

Pireaus Port Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saronic ...

Rafina Port Lavrion Port

Airports

Athens International Airport Athens International Airport ''Eleftherios Venizelos'' ( el, Διεθνής Αερολιμένας Αθηνών «Ελευθέριος Βενιζέλος», ''Diethnís Aeroliménas Athinón "Elefthérios Venizélos"''), commonly initialised as ...

Thessaloniki Airport Thessaloniki Airport , officially Thessaloniki Airport "Makedonia" ( el, Κρατικός Αερολιμένας Θεσσαλονίκης "Μακεδονία", Kratikós Aeroliménas Thessaloníkis "Makedonía") and formerly Mikra Airport, is ...

- "Makedonia"

Projects under construction

* North Road Axis of Crete *Branches of Egnatia Odos :* Motorway 21 :* Motorway 27 :* * Motorway 71

Railways

*Construction and electrification of extension to

* Line 3 (Athens Metro) extension to Dimotiko Theatro * Line 4 (Athens Metro) *

* Athens Tram extension to Piraeus

Ports and harbours

Airports

* New Heraklion Airport in

Kasteli Kastelli ( el, Καστέλλι, ''Kastélli''; also Καστέλι, ''Kastéli''), often called Kastelli Pediadas (Greek: Καστέλλι Πεδιάδας) to differentiate it from Kissamos (also occasionally called Kastelli-Kissamos) is a villa ...

Future projects

Motorways

*Larisa–Kozane Motorway

Railways

* Line 4 *Igoumenitsa–Ioannina–Kalampaka line *Kalampaka–Kastoria line *Florina–Pogradec line *Kalamaka–Kozani–Thessaloniki–Kavala–Toxotes line *Ioannina–Rio line *Thessaloniki–Chalkidiki line *Thessaloniki–Giannitsa–Skydra line *Chania–Rethymnon–Herakleion line *Thessaloniki Tram *Heraklion Tram *Patras Tram *Larisa Tram *Ioannina Tram *Volos Tram

Airports

References

External links

www.Greek-Motorway.NetThe Hellenic Merchant Maritime Sector: A Historical and Business Overview (Balkanalysis.com)
{{Transportation in Europe

Cable transport

Rail transport

Railways

Metro

Commuter rail

Tram

Road transport

Highways

Bus transport

Urban bus transport

Intercity and regional bus transport

Water transport

Waterways

Ports and harbours

Merchant marine

Airports

Pipelines

Major construction projects

Completed projects

Motorways

Railways

Ports and harbours

Airports

Projects under construction

Railways

Ports and harbours

Airports

Future projects

Motorways

Railways

Airports

See also

References

External links