The Railway Museum of Athens, Greece, was founded by the Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) in 1978.
It was located at 4 Siokou Street in Athens, but the collection has since been moved to the former MPR Depot site in Lefka, Piraeus in 2019 (not to be confused with the Electric Railways Museum of Piraeus. The museum has a collection of items related to the history of rail transport in Greece, it is now (2022) closed for public.
The rolling stock in the museum's collection includes the following: [1] [2] [3]
Three industrial locomotives from Eretria Chrome Mines:
In poor condition, the following 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) EIS/ISAP rolling stock is in open air storage awaiting renovation:
Transport in Greece has undergone significant changes in the past two decades, vastly modernizing the country's infrastructure and transportation. Although ferry transport between islands remains the prominent method of transport between the nation's islands, improvements to the road infrastructure, rail, urban transport, and airports have all led to a vast improvement in transportation. These upgrades have played a key role in supporting Greece's economy, which in the past decade has come to rely heavily on the construction industry.
A narrow-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard 1,435 mm. Most narrow-gauge railways are between 600 mm and 1,067 mm.
The Athens Metro is a rapid-transit system in Greece which serves the Athens urban area and parts of East Attica. Line 1 opened as a conventional steam railway in 1869 and 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, 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 is the only metro system in Greece, until the Thessaloniki Metro begins operation in 2024.
The Hellenic Railways Organisation or OSE is the Greek national railway company which owns, maintains and operates all railway infrastructure in Greece with the exception of Athens' rapid transit lines. Train services on these lines are run by Hellenic Train S.A., a former OSE subsidiary, Rail Cargo Logistics Goldair, Pearl and Grup Feroviar Român.
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.
Hellenic State Railways or SEK was a Greek public sector entity which was established in 1920 and operated most Greek railway lines until 1970.
Decauville was a manufacturing company which was founded by Paul Decauville (1846–1922), a French pioneer in industrial railways. Decauville's major innovation was the use of ready-made sections of light, narrow gauge track fastened to steel sleepers; this track was portable and could be disassembled and transported very easily.
The Lavrion Square–Strofyli railway was a Greek 1,000 mm railway line that ran from Lavrion Square in downtown Athens to the suburb of Kifissia and further on to Strofyli.
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.
Early development of railway transport in Greece involved a number of different companies, which had created their own workshops for maintenance and constructions. The most important were Railway Works in Piraeus, originally operated by Athens-Piraeus Railways, and Piraeus, Athens and Peloponnese Railways, which, in addition to maintenance, repair and rebuilding, have entirely constructed a significant number of railroad cars, mostly between 1880 and 1960. Other noteworthy constructions included a small number of electric trams built by EIS in 1939, and one of Greece's first Diesel locomotives, designed and built by SPAP in 1961.
Piraeus, Athens and Peloponnese Railways or SPAP was a Greek railway company founded in 1882, which owned and operated the 1,000 mm Piraeus–Patras railway line connecting Piraeus and Athens to Peloponnese. The company was nationalized in 1954 and absorbed by the Hellenic State Railways in 1962.
Athens–Lavrion Railway was a 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway line connecting downtown Athens with Eastern Attica and the mining town of Lavrion in Greece.
Thessaly Railways was a railway company in Greece, which owned and operated the metre gauge railway network of Thessaly and Pelion railway from 1884 to 1955, when the company was absorbed by the Hellenic State Railways. Today the term usually refers to the section of mainline between Domokos and Rapsani and its two branches, the West Thessaly branch to Kalambaka and the Volos branch.
The Piraeus-Perama light railway was a standard gauge suburban light railway line in Greece which connected Piraeus with Perama and Salamis Naval Base. The line was owned by the Hellenic Electric Railways and operated from 1936 to 1977.
The Electric Railways Museum of Piraeus is a railway museum in Piraeus, Athens, Greece. The museum was established in 2005 in the space of the former Post Office in Piraeus railway station. The museum displays a collection of small size items, photographs and documents related to the history of Athens-Piraeus Railway, Hellenic Electric Railways (EIS), Piraeus-Perama light railway, Piraeus Harbour tramway, Electric Transport Company (IEM) and Athens-Piraeus Electric Railways (ISAP). The museum also owns a collection of approximately 2000 small and medium size items and 3000 books, leaflets and other documents, currently in storage.
A number of private industrial railway lines were constructed in Greece for exclusive use by major mining operations and by extensive industrial facilities. There were also a few temporary lines, used for the construction of major public works. Most of them were either metre gauge or 600 mm narrow gauge.
Europe inherited a diversity of rail gauges. Extensive narrow-gauge railway networks exist in Spain, Central Europe and Southeastern Europe.
Trams in Athens have existed in two separate generations, the first from 1882 to 1960, and the second since 2004. There were no trams at all in Athens between 1960 and 2004, though the separate Piraeus-Perama light railway remained in operation between nearby Perama and Piraeus until 1977.
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 (OASA), 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.
Electric Multiple Units (EMU) are powered on the metro network of Athens, with five or six coaches. EMU-5s are of a former type and are limited to Line 1. On Lines 2 and 3, routes are only operated with EMU-6s. The trainsets were put into operation by STASY in 2011, with its establishment.
38°00′35.3″N23°43′14.3″E / 38.009806°N 23.720639°E