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Greece

The Early History of Greece’s Railways

The recent train disaster at Tempi near Larissa this week on Tuesday has thrust Greece's railways into the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. However, the country's rail network has a long and interesting history that is worth examining. Greece...

Hellenic Railway to Reach Nafplio

Within the next six months, the Greek railway line connecting Nafplio, Argos and Corinth is expected to reopen. The head of Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) Panayiotis Theofanopoulos assured the Mayor of Nafplio that the existing rail network and terminal will...

Greece Puts Railways Up For Bid

Still reeling from setbacks in its lagging privatization program, Greece has invited bids on its notoriously-inefficient and antiquated state-operated railway operator Trainose, the Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) said. The deadline for interested parties to submit binding offers for...

Greek Railways Set To Be Sold Off

Under pressure from international lenders to speed the pace of privatization, the Greek government said the tender for the sale of a 100 percent stake in the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) is to start by the end of the...

Greek Station Master Left Alone to Manage Entire Network for “20 cursed minutes”

The lawyer of the Greek station master responsible for the network when the fatal railway accident at Tempi occurred, has spoken out since his client was jailed pending trial on Sunday. According to the station master, he was improperly...

Almost €2 Million Found at Dead Pensioner's Home in Northern Greece

The 2,000 euros found in the pockets of a Greek pensioner who died in a Thessaloniki coffee shop was just a drop in the ocean compared to the fortune found in his home. The man was a retired high-ranking official of...

S&P Downgrades Greece to Junk; Outlook 'Negative'

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services lowered its long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Greece to 'CCC+/C' from 'B-/B'. At the same time, Standard & Poor's removed these ratings from CreditWatch, where it had placed them with negative implications...

Athens-Thessaloniki by Train in 3.5 hours

Athens will come ... even closer to Thessaloniki, Greece. From 2017, those who chose to travel by train will be able to make the Athens-Thessaloniki route in just 3.5 hours. According to an announcement from ERGOSE, a subsidiary of the Hellenic...

Greece Wants Azeri Gas Investment, TAP

  With privatization and foreign direct investment lagging, Prime Minister Antonis Samaras has discussed the sale of the country's gas transmission network DESFA with visiting Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev, and the construction of the the Trans Adriatic Gas Pipeline (TAP)...

First Tunnel to Link Athens-Thessaloniki Completed

A railway project is in progress to reduce travel time between Athens and Thessaloniki. The distance between the two cities is expected to be covered within three and a half hours or even less by 2016 with a maximum...

11,000 Public Sector Job Cuts Still Due 2014, 45,000 At Risk

With the Troika due to return to Greece immediately after the European elections, the Ministry of Administrative Reform in Athens is trying to catch up with the 11,000 public sector dismissals slated for 2014, lest bailout funds be withheld. Hundreds of contracts expire within months, but thousands more...

Greek Trains To Reopen Routes to Skopje, Belgrade and Sofia

Greece's rail operator, TRAINOSE, will resume daily services between Thessaloniki, Skopje, Belgrade and Sofia from May 10.  TRAINOSE, the operating arm of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), had suspended services linking Thessaloniki to the Balkan capitals in February 2011 due to financial difficulties. However,...

OSE Left Without Trains

For the first time since the founding of Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) in 1920, the company is left without trains and is limited to being a simple network administrator. According to Greek news, in 2010, the representative of the International...

TrainOSE to Resume Thessaloniki's Train Linking with the Balkans

TrainOSE, the operating arm of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), will resume services linking northern Greece to Skopje, Belgrade and Sofia on May 10. The company suspended services linking Thessaloniki to the Balkan capitals in February 2011. TrainOSE's decision to relaunch...

Greek Train Drivers to Strike over Easter

The Greek railway workers have opted to join the general strike of General Confederation of Greek Workers (GSEE) scheduled for April 9. The Panhellenic Federation of Railway Workers (POS) is also planning further mobilizations for both passenger and freight trains during...