Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was a passenger in the first trial operation of the Thessaloniki metro on Thursday. Worth noting that the famous and much troubled Thessaloniki metro project is not in operation yet, as it has been plagued by almost two decades of delays. But general elections are on May 21. 2023.
Casually dressed and accompanying by several ministers and his wife, Mitsotakis travelled, for the first time, the entire route from the new railway station to the Pylea depot, at low speed.
He stated, stating that his government had turned into action its commitment to deliver in the immediate future the most modern metro in Europe to the citizens of Thessaloniki.
“The metro of Thessaloniki is now set in trial operation and those that had the opportunity to accompany us today saw that this government kept its promise,” Mitsotakis said.
“Thessaloniki is getting the most beautiful Metro in Europe, leaving behind the tarpaulins of the fraud, said Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
A friend who was nearby before the test ride was wondering how they will push the PM into the Metro station when tarpaulins were still in place.
The prime minister was also given a tour of the Metro Operations Control Centre.
The Metro in Thessalonki was supposed to be ready and delivered for operation in April in 2023, the PM had said, However, he recently corrected his predictions, saying it will be delivered by the end of the year and be in full operation in the first months of 2024.
Also, the Attiko Metro, the public company responsible for the development and construction of the Athens and Thessaloniki metros, has said the project will be delivered at the end of the year and operation will start in 2024.
When New Democracy came to power in 2019, it changed the scheduled Metro project plans due to the archaeological findings, even though there could be a viable solution such in Monastiraki Metro station in Athens.
This caused a new delay extending over several years and cost the government reportedly more than 85 million euros in compensation to contractors to date.
But for the Prime Minister it’s the fiestas and the PR that counts, not the substance.
Meanwhile, the stage of Metro construction works in Thessaloniki on Wendesday…
Το Μετρό Θεσσαλονίκης χθες. pic.twitter.com/RD5uelKS9O
— Teacher Dude (@teacherdude) May 18, 2023
On Wednesday, journalists and reporters were invited also for a test ride that started New Railway Station to Nea Elvetia and ended at the Pylaia Railway Station, passing through all the stations.
The route of 9.6 km and 13 stations was covered at a very low speed of 15 km per hour at Fountain station as the train control was manual.
The remaining part of the route from Fountain to Pylaia depot was covered at speed that could reach 80 km/h, as this part of the route being fully automatic in terms of train movement, reported daily ethnos.gr.
