ETR470 en route to Greece

[Stephen Lee]

The 1st ETR470 for OSE is on its way btw i was wondering if the Greek high speed rail project is finished and if it is possible to acquire more Pendolinos for OSE.......

 

[Alfonso]

The 1st ETR470 for OSE is on its way btw i was wondering if the Greek high speed rail project is finished and if it is possible to acquire more Pendolinos for OSE.......

I don't think there is a Greek high speed rail project. The higher-speed shortcut on the main Athens Thessaloniki line is now open bit it's not high speed as such, just straighter, flatter, more use of tunnels

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Well there's only one suitable route: Athens-Thessaloniki, which takes 4 hours since the new infrastructure sections opened.
Currently there are 6 fast services each way, and each EMU seems to do 3 legs - so 4 units needed.
FS is providing 5 ETR470s for that service, and they should accelerate the service somewhat - I see there are ambitions to get the trip down to 3h20m using ETCS.
I doubt FS/TrainOSE has plans for anything else while the new trains bed in.

 

[superalbs]

Nice livery!

 

[Stephen Lee]

Well there's only one suitable route: Athens-Thessaloniki, which takes 4 hours since the new infrastructure sections opened.
Currently there are 6 fast services each way, and each EMU seems to do 3 legs - so 4 units needed.
FS is providing 5 ETR470s for that service, and they should accelerate the service somewhat - I see there are ambitions to get the trip down to 3h20m using ETCS.
I doubt FS/TrainOSE has plans for anything else while the new trains bed in.

What about the loco hauled stock......

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

What about the loco hauled stock......

Well, as far as I can see there are very few of these.
On the main line there's a single daytime Athens-Kalamata IC return service, and an overnight sleeper Athens-Thessaloniki.
Presumably these will continue alongside the Pendolinos.
Thessaloniki-Alexandroupoli is another IC route (1-2 a day).
Then there's the Thessaloniki-Sofia service, but it's difficult to tell if this runs across the border or is split with a bus connection and a Bulgarian train onwards.
Thessaloniki-Belgrade is summer only.
Off the main line, there is no scope for fast running.
Once the line to Patras is complete, maybe something new will be needed for Athens-Patras services, currently I think it's regular EMUs as far as Kiato.

 

[the sniper]

Nice livery!

Hopefully it makes it to Athens at least before getting the local paint job...

 

[Stephen Lee]

Well, as far as I can see there are very few of these.
On the main line there's a single daytime Athens-Kalamata IC return service, and an overnight sleeper Athens-Thessaloniki.
Presumably these will continue alongside the Pendolinos.
Thessaloniki-Alexandroupoli is another IC route (1-2 a day).
Then there's the Thessaloniki-Sofia service, but it's difficult to tell if this runs across the border or is split with a bus connection and a Bulgarian train onwards.
Thessaloniki-Belgrade is summer only.
Off the main line, there is no scope for fast running.
Once the line to Patras is complete, maybe something new will be needed for Athens-Patras services, currently I think it's regular EMUs as far as Kiato.

why don't more Pendolinos for TrainOSE......

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

why don't more Pendolinos for TrainOSE......

What for?
FS has a business plan for 5 units, which should give significantly higher capacity than currently, on the one line that would benefit.
I doubt the Greek economy could support any more, especially in a post-Covid world.
There will be plenty of work to do to get these trains into service and to optimise the route for them (ETCS etc).

 

[AlbertBeale]

I don't think there is a Greek high speed rail project. The higher-speed shortcut on the main Athens Thessaloniki line is now open bit it's not high speed as such, just straighter, flatter, more use of tunnels

Quite a few European "high-speed" lines referenced by people in Britain to show why we're way behind and need miles of High-Speed infrastructure are like this. No faster than the maximum speed some British trains already run at, but just ironing out the route sufficiently to attain the decent speed (but not "HS") more consistently. For instance, the recent Gotthard Base Tunnel has passenger trains running at just 125mph. Providing that speed can be maintained for a large proportion of the journey, that's fast enough for trains in a small country...