The greater Athens area added to its laurels towards the end of this year’s summer season with the unveiling of a ranking index of European metro systems. The index listed the Athens underground as third best on the continent, behind Oslo in Norway and Sofia in neighboring Bulgaria.
The greater Athens-Piraeus metro system scores 7.29 out of a perfect 10 on the underground index unveiled by Bounce, the international luggage storage and package company.
According to the company’s website, “Like Sofia, the Athens Metro provides a direct link to the airport, allowing travelers to access the city center with cheap, quick, and regular public transport. The metro also connects to the city’s busy port area, which supports travel by ferry to many Greek island destinations…”
The online article also reminds its readers that the Athens Metro includes 62 stations along 44.1 miles (nearly 71 kilometers) of track, with a ridership of just more than 259 million commuters every year, according to the article.
Construction of a new metro line in Athens, Line 4, is currently underway in what’s the biggest infrastructure project in Greece.
The new line will consist of 15 stations on a U-shaped underground route of 13 kilometers of tunnels in mostly central Athens, with connections to both of the other two modern metro lines.
The project has a budget of 1.5 billion euros and will incorporate the latest metro technologies, including driverless Alstom Metropolis trains, 20 of which will be ordered.