The Transport Ministry presented on Tuesday the first fully rebuilt Athens Metro Line 1 (ISAP) train.
It is just one out of 14 eighth-generation trains that entered service between 1983 and 1985.
The goal, after the reconstruction of all trains, is to reduce the frequency of services from 8.5 minutes last year to just 5 minutes by 2027.
According to metro operator STASY’s schedule, this train will be put into service in July, while the total delivery of the 14 trains is expected to be completed in May 2027.
“After 20 years and more, a fully rebuilt train is coming to the ISAP tracks,” said Deputy Minister of Transport Konstantinos Kyranakis, during the presentation of the train on Tuesday morning at the STASY depot in Sepolia.
“These trains were built in 1985 and there are no spare parts for them anymore, so it was necessary to carry out this renovation in order to keep them in service for another 25 years,” said Christos Mamaloukakis, general director of maintenance at STASY.
“These are 14 trains and 70 carriages,” he said: “They have been completely renovated both internally and externally, but most importantly, all the electromechanical equipment has been replaced, now offering reliable and safe services to passengers.”
The reconstruction of 14 trains from the eighth batch is expected to give significant relief to the historic but problematic ISAP, given that on Line 1 (linking Piraeus with Kifissia) the air conditioning of the trains has a very low efficiency.
There are even four “French” trains “on loan” from Lines 2 and 3, which do not have air conditioning at all, resulting in passengers boiling, especially in the summer when temperatures soar.
The project to upgrade 14 trains of the eighth batch of ISAP has gone on for years, with long delays, resulting in STASY imposing fines of approximately €3.8 million on Spanish contractor CAF.