Thessaloniki Metro EXCAVATING THE CITY’S FUTURE www.ametro.gr Thessaloniki Metro EXCAVATING THE CITY’S FUTURE Thessaloniki has an incredible cultural history going back thousands of years, what’s going on below ground is almost as much of interest as what happens at street level RESEARCH BY Joseph Philips 2 [ NOV 2018 ] BUSINESS EXCELLENCE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE [ NOV 2018 ] 3 THESSALONIKI METRO reek’s second biggest city support, it never got much further than a Thessaloniki has an incredible large hole in the city centre - a daily reminder G cultural history going back thousands to the city’s people that they had yet to get of years. Just like the more well-known their metro. Athens, its streets are full of beautiful ancient In the early 2000s, with full government buildings, most notably the white tower, by and EU support, the project was reopened. now synonymous with the city’s beautiful A public-private partnership (PPP) between seaport. But like Athens, and indeed, most the greek government and Attiko, and a of Greece, what goes on below ground is combination of funding from the European almost as much of interest as what happens Investment Bank and the European Regional at street level. Development Fund gave the financial boost That usually means archaeologists required to make the metro a reality. excavating below street level, seeing what The Scope of the Project, is the design, artefacts that the city’s seemingly never- construction, supply and installation of ending history throws up next. But since the equipment, including Rolling Stock, 2006, there’s been a different kind of commissioning, maintenance of the network, “A combination of funding from the European Investment Bank and the European Regional Development Fund gave the financial boost required to make the metro a reality” excavation going on: that of the Thessaloniki supply of the required spare parts, as Metro. We recently took a closer look at the well as the training of the personnel of project to see how it was progressing. Thessaloniki Metro. This network comprises of an underground line of two separated From Concept to Reality tracks, approximately 14,4 Km long, 18 Home to over 300,000 people, Thessaloniki’s central platform stations with their shafts, 2 residents must feel that a metro in the city forestations, 2 trumpets, 7 crossovers and is well deserved. Europe alone has over 50 one Depot with the Operation Control Center metro systems, with smaller cities like Rennes, and the Administration Building, as well as all Brescia and Catania possessing their own necessary electromechanical and Railway subways. It turns out that the creation of a Systems, including the Rolling Stock. metro has been the burning issue on the city’s When finished in 2020, the first line, (the agenda for just over 100 years. so-called ‘base line’) will traverse the entire Mayor Sotiris Kouvelas published a Thessaloniki urban centre, connecting east development plan for a metro in Thessaloniki to west, and will include 2 parallel lines of 30 years ago this year in 1988. The plan was approximately 9.5 kilometres each. The visionary and much of its central tenets second line, the Kalamaria Extension, will remain true to the more modern version of the run on separate lines totalling 4.8 kilometres metro. However, without central government each, and add five stations to the network. It 4 [ NOV 2018 ] BUSINESS EXCELLENCE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE [ NOV 2018 ] 5 ZARIFOPOULOS S.A Thessaloniki METRO – a new project for ZARIFOPOULOS Group ZARIFOPOULOS S.A., has proudly manufacturers SCHRACK SECONET AG undertaken to supply and commission (fire detection), DDS (access control) and the Fire Detection and Integrated Security and Honeywell (security), fully conform to the strict Access Control Systems for the new METRO in project specifications. Thessaloniki, the second largest city in Greece. With more than 45 years of experience and leading position, in the Fire Protection, Security and Energy Management Systems Specifically, the fire detection system stands sectors, ZARIFOPOULOS was chosen by the out by the hardware redundancy attribute which Contractor, AKTOR S.A., to fulfil the challenging is realized not only for the CPU of the SCHRACK task of protecting this valuable and sensitive Integral MX panels, but for all the electronic infrastructure, including all 13 stations of the boards within them, offering maximum safety Central Line and the Main Control Center - Depot. level for the continuous and unobstructed operation of the panels with full functionality. ZARIFOPOULOS’ scope includes the Furthermore, by default all point-type detectors procurement of equipment, the provision of are of combined smoke/heat type, allowing for technical instructions and the programming, commissioning, final testing and delivery of system to the central Security Management community buildings (theaters, concert halls, This project demonstrates the the systems in full working order, as well as System of the METRO via OPC protocol. universities, libraries, hospitals, banks, national the maintenance and support of the systems’ high level of training and expertise administration buildings, malls), as well as in operation for the initial period of their life cycle. of the engineering and technical This project demonstrates the high level of the field of tourism, with a respectable number ZARIFOPOULOS S.A. solutions, based on personnel of ZARIFOPOULOS training and expertise of the engineering and of high standard, luxury hotels. the leading edge equipment provided by technical personnel of ZARIFOPOULOS, as well as the special experience that has been ZARIFOPOULOS - a Greek Group of Companies programmable use of each detecting principle attained through a variety of similar projects - together with its subsidiaries in Bulgaria, according to the special conditions in each which have been successfully completed in the Cyprus and Albania, aspires to provide Safety area, depending on the time of the day/week. recent years. ZARIFOPOULOS has procured and Security solutions that stand out, with the One more distinguishing feature, is that smoke and installed Fire Detection, Fire Extinguishing, great added value that a company with 45 years detectors use CUBUS levelling® for adapting Security, CCTV, Access Control and Building of experience can offer. automatically to the environmental conditions. Management Energy Systems (BEMS) in various projects in Greece, United Kingdom, Romania, ZARIFOPOULOS The Integrated Security and Access Control Pakistan, Jordan, Algeria, Ghana, Nigeria, etc., Headquarters & Warehouse: 14 Dodecanisou and System is composed of OPEN access controllers including Power Plants, Solar Farms, a Natural Ikoniou, Alsoupoli N.Ionia, Athens-Greece & by DDS and Galaxy Dimension security panels Gas Compressor Station and others. 1 Dodecanisou and 77 Pergamou, Alsoupoli N.Ionia, by Honeywell, satisfying Grade 3 requirements Athens-Greece according to EN 50131. The integration between ZARIFOPOULOS S.A. has also accumulated +30 210 2713970 Email: [email protected] the two manufacturers is performed at software great experience in a series of large and Sales: [email protected] level by the Amadeus platform of DDS, which composite projects regarding archaeological www.zarifopoulos.com relays the information from the integrated areas and monuments, central highways, large 6 [ NOV 2018 ] BUSINESS EXCELLENCE BUSINESS EXCELLENCE [ NOV 2018 ] 7 THESSALONIKI METRO will include 18 fully automatic air-conditioned The impact doesn’t stop there. In the trains, and a 50,000m2 depot at Pylea. construction phase, the project has already hired over 1,000 people, almost all of whom Socioeconomic and are local. Furthermore, a 2012 paper by three environmental Impact Greek academics (Roukouni, Kokkalis and Attiko management is on record as saying that, Socrates) said that the appearance of the when delivered, the Thessaloniki metro system metro in the city would considerably enhance will be ‘the best metro system in Europe.’ It’s the land use in the areas around the metro for not difficult to see why. Attiko say that it’s 85% residents and visitors alike. complete as of the third quarter of 2018 and In terms of the environmental impact, it when finished that it will provide an estimated is estimated that line 1 of the project alone 65,000 journeys daily across the city - in less will decrease CO2 emissions in the city by than 15 minutes - considerably improving life approximately 1.25 million tonnes and CO in the city by halving journey times. emissions by a further 25,000 tonnes, thanks “Attiko management is on record as saying that, when delivered, the Thessaloniki metro system will be ‘the best metro system in Europe” to a dramatic fall off in road in 12 stations of the Project. congestion and the arrival of Did you know? During this excavation at 10 the metro’s electric trains. The meters depth, a great amount system will truly play a key role to In the construction of findings were discovered, the vision of sustainable mobility. phase, the project some of which were of great has already hired importance according to the ‘Both Antiquities over 1,000 people, archaeological authorities. In and Metro’ almost all of whom some cases, works have paused The city of Thessaloniki was are local. for months or even for years founded in 315 BC by Cassander in order for the authorities to of Macedon and during it was evaluate and decide on whether an important metropolis in the to extract, destroy and remove Roman period and the second largest and or even leave to their place important wealthiest city of the Byzantine Empire. findings, such as ancient graves, churches, This means that the city is home to some incinerators, roads, walls, etc, from various of Europe’s richest archaeological heritage, archaeological periods. and the largest archaeological excavation In early 2018, many of those same findings ever conducted in Northern Greece, went on display at the Museum of the Ancient extending over an area of 20.000 square Agora in Thessaloniki in an event organized meters, is underway.