WRITTEN QUESTION No. 766/99 by Alexandros ALAVANOS Athens- Thessaloniki rail link
Date: 1999-03-29
Institutions: ALAVANOS, European Parliament
Subjects: Cohesion Fund, Community support framework, Greece, length of journey, rail network

C 370/102

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

21.12.1999

its obligations under that Directive, in particular Article 7. A letter of formal notice on the basis of Article
171 EC Treaty was sent to Greece on 18 December 1998.

The Greek authorities notified to the Commission on 11 January 1999 measures taken in order to
implement the above mentioned decision of the Court of justice. The analysis of these measures is
underway.

(1999/C 370/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0765/99

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Construction of new rail link between Lianokladi and Domokos

(29 March 1999)

There are reportedly two proposals for a new rail link between Lianokladi and Domokos, one comprising a
tunnel of 23 kilometres at a total cost of DRS 260 billion and the other which provides for an 11
kilometre tunnel with the rest of the line overground at a total cost of Drs 160 billion. In addition, under
the second proposal, the new railway station for Lamia would be situated at a distance of 2 kilometres
from the centre of the town, whereas under the first proposal, the existing station at Lianokladi would
continue to serve the town of Lamia, which is 9 kilometres away.

The Commission:

1.

Is aware of the proposed options for the construction of the rail
Domokos?

link between Lianokladi and

2. What are its views on the cost and social benefit of the proposals?

3. What is its estimate of the probable total duration of the work?

Answer given by Mrs Wulf-Mathies on behalf of the Commission

(5 May 1999)

The Commission is aware of the various proposals for the new railway line between Lamia or Lianokladi,
and Domokos. This section of the main Athens-Thessaloniki railway line is mountainous and the projected
new railway line will undoubtedly be very expensive and technically very difficult.

With this in mind the Monitoring Committee for the Railways Operational Programme for the period
1994-99, which is part-funding the studies of the section in question, decided at the beginning of 1999 to
study the proposals before taking any decision.

The Greek authorities are currently preparing this study so that the alternative routes can be effectively
compared from the technical, economic and social standpoints. This phase should finish towards the end
of this year or in early 2000, so allowing the final decisions to be taken in time for the next programming
period in 2000-06.

(1999/C 370/147)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-0766/99

by Alexandros Alavanos (GUE/NGL) to the Commission

Subject: Athens-Thessaloniki rail link

(29 March 1999)

The 2nd CSF provides for the construction of a new railway line between Tithoreas and Lianokladi (50 km)
and the electrification of the Athens-Thessaloniki line, reducing the journey to 4 hours 20 minutes. The
2nd CSF is now coming to an end and there has been no real progress on either of these two projects. The
journey between Athens and Thessaloniki still takes 6 hours and, at the present rate of progress, the 2nd
CSF will not have met its targets even by the year 2006.