An Alstom / Avax joint venture has signed a signalling contract with Ergose, a subsidiary of the Greek national railway company OSE, to modernise the Thessaloniki-Idomeni mainline section in Greece.
This line is part of the Pan-European Corridor X, connecting Thessaloniki to Budapest and passing through Northern Macedonia, Serbia and Hungary. It’s traditionally known as one of the main freight corridors in Central and Eastern Europe.
The contract, valued at 41 million euros (45.01m USD), covers signalling, some electrification and track renewal along 70km of the existing single line.
This work will increase the efficiency of passenger and freight rail services, by enabling passenger trains to travel a new maximum speed of 160 kilometres per hour, for example.
Alstom will be responsible for the development, delivery, installation, testing and commissioning of its Atlas 100 ETCS Level 1 trackside system, Smartlock 400 MooN electronic interlocking technology and replacement of indoor and outdoor equipment such as axle counters, points machines and signals.
It will also install its digital railway traffic control solution Iconis in Thessaloniki, the country’s largest railway hub.
Stavros Vlachos, Managing Director for Greece and Western Balkans at Alstom, said:Providing upgraded signalling solutions to this important railway line in Greece is another important step towards the modernisation and upgrading of the international railway axis.
The project is expected to take three years to complete and includes a three year guarantee.
