Athens is a major coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, and it is both the capital and the largest city of Greece. With its urban area's population numbering over three million, it is also the eighth largest urban area in the European Union. Athens dominates and is the capital of the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, with its recorded history spanning over 3,400 years, and its earliest human presence beginning somewhere between the 11th and 7th millennia BC. The city was named after Athena, the ancient Greek goddess of wisdom.
The Athens Metro is a rapid-transit system in Greece which serves the Athens urban area. Line 1 opened as a single-track conventional steam railway in 1869 and was electrified in 1904. In 1991, Elliniko Metro S.A. constructed and extended Lines 2 and 3. It has significantly changed Athens by providing a much-needed solution to the city's traffic and air pollution problem, as well as revitalising many of the areas it serves. Extensions of existing lines are under development or tender, like the Line 2 extension to Ilion where tender started in 2023, as well as a new Line 4, whose central section began construction in October 2021. The Athens Metro is actively connected with the other means of public transport, such as buses, trolleys, the Athens Tram and the Athens Suburban Railway. The Athens Metro is hailed for its modernity, and many of its stations feature works of art, exhibitions and displays of the archaeological remains found during its construction. Photography and video-taking is permitted across the whole network and street photographers often work in Athens Metro. This will be the only metro system in Greece, until the Thessaloniki Metro begins operation in 2024.
Transport for Athens, officially the Athens Urban Transport Organisation, is the operator of public transport in Athens, Greece. Transport for Athens, through its subsidiary companies, operates metro, tram, trolleybus and bus services in the Athens metropolitan area. Municipal buses and the KTEL network being are main competitors to Transport for Athens.
Syntagma is a station on the Athens Metro, located at Syntagma Square in the center of Athens, Greece. It serves as the transfer point between Line 3, Line 2 and the Athens Tram. When the Metro first opened, on 28 January 2000, the station was the terminal station for both the new lines. The centerpiece of the city's metro network, it is a transportation hub for buses and the northern terminal for the Tram. It is the busiest station in the Athens transport system, located underneath Syntagma Square, the political centre of Athens. It serves Ermou Street, the Houses of Parliament, various government agencies, foreign embassies and the National Garden.
The Athens–Piraeus Electric Railways, commonly abbreviated as ISAP, was a company which operated the Piraeus - Kifissia line from 1 January 1976 to 17 June 2011. Piraeus - Kifissia line was the oldest urban rapid transit system of Athens metropolitan area. The line opened in 1869 as a suburban railway line connecting Athens with its port of Piraeus and it was gradually converted to full rapid transit operations, making it one of the oldest metro lines in the world. The line which ISAP S.A. operated evolved from the older Athens & Piraeus Railway and Lavrion Square-Strofyli railway.
Piraeus is the name of two railway stations in Piraeus, Athens, Greece, approximately 9 km south-west of the centre of Athens. The southern building is an interchange station between Line 1 and Line 3 and is the present terminus of Athens Metro Line 1, formerly the Athens-Piraeus Railways Co that opened in 1869. The northern building is the railway terminus for standard gauge railway services of the Athens Suburban Railway to the Acharnes Railway Center and Chalcis. Both buildings are located next to the seaport, with the Electric Railways Museum of Piraeus located in the metro station, in the space of the former Post Office.
Marousi, also known as Maroussi, is an Athens Metro station in Marousi, a northern suburb in Athens. The station is served by Line 1, and is 23.46 kilometres down the line from the southern terminus of Piraeus, between Nerantziotissa to the south and KAT to the north.
Rail transport in Greece has a history which began in 1869, with the completion of the then Athens & Piraeus Railway. From the 1880s to the 1920s, the majority of the network was built, reaching its heyday in 1940. From the 1950s onward, the railway system entered a period of decline, culminating in the service cuts of 2011. Ever since the 1990s, the network has been steadily modernized, but still remains smaller than its peak length. The operation of the Greek railway network is split between the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE), which owns and maintains the rail infrastructure; GAIAOSE, which owns the building infrastructure and the former OSE rolling stock, Hellenic Train; and other private companies that run the trains on the network. Greece is a member of the International Union of Railways (UIC). The UIC Country Code for Greece is 73.
Elliniko Metro, formerly Attiko Metro until May 2023, is a Greek public company who is responsible for the development and construction of the Athens Metro and the Thessaloniki Metro, as well as the Athens Tram.
Athens railway station is the main railway station of Athens, and the second largest station in Greece. Located in the central quarter of Kolonos, the railway station resulted from the merger of two separate railway terminals in 2005—Larissa station of the Piraeus–Platy railway towards central and northern Greece, and the Peloponnese station of the Piraeus–Patras railway that formerly linked Athens with the Peloponnese.
Line 2 of the Athens Metro runs entirely underground from Anthoupoli in the northwest to Elliniko in the south, via Syntagma. It first opened, between Sepolia and Syntagma, on 28 January 2000, with Line 3.
Line 3 of the Athens Metro runs from Dimotiko Theatro to Athens Airport, via Syntagma, although most of the trains reverse at Doukissis Plakentias: the section from Dimotiko Theatro to the tunnel portal east of Doukissis Plakentias is underground, and the section from Doukissis Plakentias to Airport is shared with Athens Suburban Railway trains, implementing a form of the Karlsruhe model. Line 3 connects the Port of Piraeus with the Athens International Airport, a journey that takes up to 59 minutes.
Line 1 is the oldest of the three lines of the Athens Metro, running from Kifissia to Piraeus. The Athens-Piraeus Railway Company first opened the line, between Piraeus and Thiseio, on 27 February 1869. On 4 February 1885 Lavrion Square-Strofyli railway line opened between Attiki Square and Kifissia. These railway lines gradually merged and converted to a rapid-transit system. It was merged into the Athens Metro network upon the opening of Lines 2 and 3 on 28 January 2000.
Faliro, also known as Neo Faliro on signage and maps, is a station on Athens Metro Line 1. It is near the Faliro Coastal Zone Olympic Complex. The station is also adjacent to a rolling stock depot.
Dimotiko Theatro is a station in Piraeus, Greece. It is the southwestern terminus of Athens Metro Line 3. It opened in October 10, 2022, as part of the Line 3 extension to Piraeus.
Nikaia, shown as Nikea on the official map, is a station on Athens Metro Line 3. A part of the Piraeus extension, the station opened on July 7, 2020, along with Phase I of the extension. It served as the line's western terminus until 2022.
Public transport in Athens comprises a bus network, various rail systems, funiculars, and maritime services to serve the more than 4 million inhabitants of the city spread over an area of 2928 km2.
Urban Rail Transport S.A., commonly abbreviated as STASY, is a Greek public transport operator of the Athens Metro and the Athens Tram. It is the metro and tram subsidiary of Transport for Athens, and is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the metro and tram network, including rolling stock, 59 tram stops, and 62 of the 66 metro stations.
