Dep. Minister: Thessaloniki metro to be delivered by end of 2023

Greece’s relevant infrastructure and transports deputy minister on Thursday promised that the long-awaited single metro line in the northern city of Thessaloniki will be delivered by the end of 2023.

Although construction has continued for several years, an underground rail line remains an elusive “dream” for residents of Greece’s second largest municipality – reputably the most populous city in the EU without some form of fixed rail mass transit system. The goal of constructing such a metro line in the city dates back decades.

Speaking at the Olympia Forum III, organized by the Delphi Economic Forum and the newspaper “Patris”, Deputy Infrastructure and Transports Minister Giorgos Karagiannis also claimed that one remaining but prominent “gap” in Greece’s now west European grade national highway system – the Patras to Pyrgos stretch in the northwest Peloponnese – is proceeding, at least at the tender and bureaucratic level, rapidly.

The Patras-Pyrgos roadway, in southwest Greece, is considered as one of the riskiest in terms of traffic accidents on provincial routes.