WORKSHOP #3 & TRAINING SESSION #2 Thessaloniki, 27 June 2013 Action 2.1 Internal communication & knowledge management Action 6.5 Training activities Δήμος Θεσσαλονίκης Thessaloniki WORKSHOP #3 The Workshop #3 was carried out on board of the train nr. 81 Thessaloniki-Florina (h. 7:14 - 9:47) belonging to Trainose S.A. It was organised in cooperation with HIT and Municipality of Thessaloniki with the purpose to learn more about the history of the Greek railways with a special attention to today perspectives in the Balkan passengers’ rail marketplace, presented by Mr Evangelos Katsaros and Mr Nikolaos Athanasopoulos, followed by a debate. Here some information about the trip: The route is 185 km long. Some features: there are 5 important bridges, there is the highest place in the Greek Railway (Kleidi), there is the biggest slope in Greek railway (between Skidra - Agra), the territories crossed by the train were fruit factories in the past. ::: 1 ::: The beginnings (1868-1919) By 1835, after the independency, the plans were being put to the Greek state First railway in to construct a railway line from Athens the centre of Athens to the seaport of Piraeus. The history of rail transport in Greece actually began in 1869, with the construction of the link between the two sites with private funding. The social and economic structure of Greece towards the end of the 19th century was founded on the collection of small agricultural towns acting as marketplaces and economic centres for the villages that surrounded them. Back then Greece had very little industry and few roads, which made the Government think about the development of a railway system that would go towards addressing the lack of internal and external communication that existed. The Greek railway network then developed slowly over time, at the initiative of private foreign companies, with the adoption of a four gauge network, due to different initial construction costs: 600, 750, 1.000 and 1.435 mm. From 1881 onward, the intention was to make Greece a pivotal point on the journey between Europe, India and Asia. Mr Charilaos Trikoupis, Politician and Prime Minister, was considered as the “Father of the Greek Railways”. His aims were to find out a solution for moving soldiers and provisions which was a strong competitor to ships passengers transport lines, further than a way of stimulating the internal growth of Greece. A number of railway lines were constructed mainly by mining operations and by extensive industrial facilities. From 1912 to 1916 the connection between North and South railway network was done. The first trains to run the full 506 kilometres from Athens to Thessaloniki on standard gauge track marked the completion of the line in 1918, which by then was running entirely on Greek territory. In 1919, after the World War I, the first international train connection Athens-Paris was also established. At the end of 1919, there were 6 different companies: ::: 2 ::: Integration of networks (1920-1970) The Hellenic State Railways (Σ.Ε.Κ) was created in 1920, by unifying all the different rail networks. It operated most Greek railway lines until 1970, when all the activities were transferred to Hellenic Railways Organisation S.A. (Ο.Σ.Ε.), a state-owned corporation. During this period very little infrastructural “Hellenic State Railways” locomotive expansion of the existing network took place. After between Athens – Larisa route World War II the Hellenic State Railways absorbed most other Greek railways. The Greek railway system (both infrastructure and rolling stock) suffered serious damages during World War II (especially in 1943-1944) and did not become fully operational until 1950. New station buildings were constructed in Thessaloniki, Larissa, Lianokladi, Sindos, Aiginio, Platamon, Florina, Edessa, Agras, Arnissa, Polykastron, Ptolemais and Kozani. Until 1962 the Hellenic State Railways used a variety of steam locomotives from various sources. Some of them belonged to the pre-1920 networks, a number were acquired as part of foreign aid programs after the war and a small number was procured. Conversion to diesel traction began in the early 1960s, while steam locomotives were slowly phased out but were still in limited use in December 1970. Modern era (OSE) (1971-2000s) The Hellenic Railways Organisation (O.Σ.E.) was founded in 1971, taking over from the Hellenic State Railways (Σ.Ε.Κ.). Since then, the network of Greece’s railways has been extensively modernised and parts of it have been electrified, notably between the cities of Thessaloniki and Larissa; and Athens International Airport and Kiato. Today, OSE maintains and operates all railway infrastructure in Greece with the exception of Athens rapid transit lines. Train services on these lines are run by Trainose S.A., a former OSE subsidiary. In addition OSE owns and maintains the rolling stock used by Trainose and maintains preserved special rolling stock, withdrawn locomotives and railcars. There were many international connections: the Venezia Express (Athens - Belgrade - Zagreb - Ljubljana -Venice), the Hellas Express and the Acropolis Express (Athens - Belgrade - Salzburg - Munich). From 1995 onward, intense international collaboration existed between Railway companies at Balkans: from Thessaloniki to Skopje, Belgrade, Sofia, Bucharest, Istanbul and other destinations in North (i.e. Moscow), including direct coach connection between Athens, Thessaloniki, Sofia and Bucharest. ::: 3 ::: Current status Major rail network run by Trainose are: . the main line from Piraeus to Thessaloniki (with its branches at Inoi-Chalkis and Lianokladi- Lamia-Stylis). The sections between Athens-Tithorea and Domokos- Thessaloniki have been extensively modernised and feature an electrified double track, while parts between these two sections are currently undergoing modernisation. A complete high-speed railway line from Athens to Thessaloniki is expected to be complete by 2015; . the main line from Athens to Corinth– Kiato (Line is mainly used by the Proastiakos commuter rail service); . the electrified single track line from Thessaloniki to Idomeni. Minor rail network: . the standard gauge single track line from Platy (branching off from the Athens-Thessaloniki mainline) to Florina and Kozani, forming the Kozani-Amyntaio railway line; . the standard gauge single track line Thessaloniki to Alexandroupolis and Ormenio, with its branch to Promachon at the Greek-Bulgarian borders; . the standard gauge lines of Thessaly (Kalambaka and Volos branches), as part of the Thessaly rail network . Trainose operates 3 types of regional rail passenger services on which include regular/common trains, Express trains and Intercity (IC) trains. The regular rail service is the slowest, with trains making frequent stops, while it is also the cheapest available. Express trains are faster trains, making fewer stops in sections served by regular trains. Intercity (IC) trains are the fastest but the most expensive. The needed supplement on Intercity (IC) trains typically doubled or tripled the base fare respectively, but today this is determined more by the different competing forms of transport, mainly air transport. Car transport is also available on night services on the main line from Athens to Thessaloniki. Passenger accommodation is similar in all classes of long distance trains. Seat reservation, bar and restaurant facilities are available on long distance express and on Intercity (IC) trains. Numbering of the trains is determined by the type of the train. Regular trains (and also Proastiakos suburban/commuter rail service trains) have 4-digit train numbers, Express trains have 3-digit train ::: 4 ::: numbers and Intercity (IC) and Intercity trains have 2-digit train numbers, preceded by the symbols IC. As far as the freight trains are concerned, there are regular freight services running during the night especially from Athens to the Thessaloniki marshalling yard. Other irregular national and international freight services also exist. Since 2011, due to the Greek financial crisis and subsequent budget cuts by the Greek government, all international passengers services have been suspended due to restructuring plans of Trainose, aiming to reverse deficits into profits. There were connections among Thessaloniki - Skopje - Belgrade; Thessaloniki - Sofia - Bucharest; Thessaloniki - Istanbul; Athens - Sofia. The international passenger railway routes that Trainose would now establish are: . Thessaloniki-Istanbul via Pythion: proposals for touristic routes from touristic agencies of Turkey, with long-distance passenger trains running at night which offer sleeping accommodation. There are strong political/entrepreneurs/market interest, but the infrastructures need still to be improved. Athens-Sofia via Thessaloniki: there is a strong recorded demand for business and tourism with long-distance passenger trains that can run daily from Thessaloniki and from Athens to Sofia offering sleeping accommodation. Regulatory agreement is under way between the two countries regulatory authorities to re-launch the train service. Thessaloniki-Skopje-Belgrade-Pilot: in 2012 a weekend route from Thessaloniki to Skopje was established to support mainly tourism flows from Skopje/Serbia. The re-launch of the service is today under discussion in order to integrate tourism offers. The main benefits are of the renewed international rail connections are: . enhancing entrepreneurship and transnational cooperation in South-eastern Europe; . strengthening regional identity,