History of Train & Rail Travel in Greece (see Greece train map)
Greece was one of the last European nations to develop railways, the first train, a Piraeus-Athens one in 1869, more than forty years after the British had its first train line. Not long afterward, however, trains began running in northern Greece, with the 1872 line from Thessaloniki to the present FYROM border and into Alexandhroupoli from Edirne (the latter in Turkey, formerly Greek Adrianople).
These northern lines were funded by the new Greek state, established after the first stages of the Greek War of Independence. The trains running into Greece from the declining Ottoman Empire, were an attempt on the part of that empire to link together the last fragments of its crumbling territory. Railways in Greece radiated from three major population centers: from Athen/Piraeus to the north, east and west; from Volos towards Ipiros and the west as well as east into the Pilio peninsula; and in all directions from Thessaloniki into easternmost Greek Macedonia and Thrace, north into Bulgaria, and south and west into northern and central Greece.
During the late 1860s, Prime Minister Alexandhros Koumoundouros envisioned the railways as a link between West European markets and Near Eastern sources of raw materials, and in 1881, contracted for standard gauge railway construction radiating from Athens. Harilaos Trikoupis, who had become Prime Minister in 1875, had a different orientation, seeing the development of Greek railways as the means to inclusion of Greece in the international railway system, and a year later, cancelled those contracts and signed others for a narrow gauge network starting in the Peloponnese. Trikoupis had spent fourteen years in London during the 1860s and 1870s when the railways were developing there, and, seeing how they could benefit the new Greek nation, struggled to see them developed as part of his program for economic development.
The first 700km/434 miles of rail were from Athens to Corinth, Patras and Pyrgos, with a branch from Pyrgos to Kataolon; and another from Corinth through Argos to Nafplion with a branch with a branch from Argos to Mili. Plans were made also for the construction of 202km for the basic metric gauge system of Thessaly, from Volos through Farsala, Karditsa, Trikala and Kalambaka with a branch from Velestino to Larissa. The plan for the 76km Attic system was for connedtions from Omonia Square in Athens to Lavrio with a branch from Iraklio to Kifissia and during the years between 1883 to 1890, these lines began opening. Though many more contracts were signed by Trikoupis between 1887 and 1891 for 1100km more, various factors kept those lines from being built-troubles with Turkey in 1887, economic bankruptcy among them. Building resumed between 1900-1909 under Prime Minister Theotokis (Trikoupis r having died in 1896, bringing the national network to a total of 1600km/ 992miles, and then the First Balkan War interrupted railway progress once more.
The Ottomans had been building its own railways from 1872 onward, which were intended to supplement Austro-Hungarian rails that connected Vienna with Istanbul (via Belgrade and Sofia). After the First Balkan War of 1912, the Greek system finally completed the link from Larissa to Platy, this in 1916. With these last 89km of rail, The Greek railway reached the Ottoman-built Macedonian system and enabled Greece to join Europe's international railway grid. Other lines were thwarted, however, which would have extended the system westward from Kozani in western Macedonia towards Albania, even though surveys had been carried out and some tunnels and bridges built. Except for a few extensions of the system, no major work was done on Greece's railway system until the 1970s, though the Larissa station was built in 1962, and the huge Thessaloniki station in 1967. There was also the rail extension from Strimon to Bulgaria in 1966.
World War II saw the destruction of Greek industry, economy in general, and of the railway system (to leave out much else that was destroyed during those dark years). After the Greek Civil War (1946-9), American-directed highway building in the late 1950s , and though there was rebuilding of the rail system as well, the emphasis was on automobiles. Whereas 50% of the passengers in Greece in 1950 travelled by train, the percentage had dropped to 4% by 1967.
The year of 1971 brought both the conversion to diesel fuel for the trains, and consolidation of the Greek railways into OSE. With consolidation came the closing of many branch railway lines throughout the country, as well as a reduction in frequency of trains. Many believe that this was a deliberate attempt to shut down the country's railways for good. Greece's entry into the European Economic Community (which later became the EU) in 1981, brought revival , however, with Greek cooperation in the Community of European Railways (mostly a north European association). Later came the EU Delors II program, and long range planning, aided by investment, brought increased rejuvenation to the Greek railways, with closed lines reopened in the Peloponnese (Isthmia to Loutraki and from Argos to Nafplio), as well as better schedules between Athens and Thessaloniki.Promotion of railways and railway travel in Greece has also been boosted by an Athens-based (but widely supported) consumers' group founded in 1983-the Hellenic Association of Railway Friends. By the mid 1990s a railway revival was in full swing, featuring vast improvements in infrastructure and in mechanical features, refurbished railway stations, and the best of both the modern and the classic in train types. The most outstanding modern achievement has been the fastest Athens-Thessaloniki train ever, with, by 1996, a journey of just under six hours for this 510km/316mile route, much of it through rugged mountain terrain, which travel time has now dropped to 3 ½ hours.
- Why the Train
- Trains Map
- Peloponnese I
- Peloponnese II
- Central Greece
- Thessaly
- S. Macedonia
- Northern Greece
- Thrace
- Train Routes
- Train History (you are here)