Rail transport in Greece

Former transport and infrastructure minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, who resigned in the aftermath of the deadly train collision in central Greece that left 57 people dead and scores injured, will appear before the parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee next Monday to testify about the accident and the state of the Greek railways.

The Anti-Money Laundering Authority has launched a general financial audit for bribes in railway network owner OSE and its subsidiaries.

The audit was ordered by authority chief Charalambos Vourliotis, a deputy prosecutor of the Supreme Court.

Data from Greece's railway regulator, RAS, show that besides the three companies already providing railway services, there are four others preparing to enter the market.

Transport staff in the Greek capital have called off further action after a breakthrough in talks with authorities.

Staff objections over a collective labor contract for this year were lifted following talks with the General Accounting Office.

The new management of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) is working toward reducing the four-hour train journey from Athens to Thessaloniki to three hours by 2021, in cooperation with the Transport Ministry.

The Intercity rail service is set to return to Greek tracks in the coming weeks, as railway operator Trainose is, according to sources, planning to resume the four-hour connection between Athens and Thessaloniki in a bid to raise its corporate profile and increase passenger numbers.

Transport Minister Michalis Chrysochoidis on Wednesday inaugurated a new station on the Athens-Piraeus Proastiakos suburban railway line.

The new station in Tavros, near Athens's southern coast, is located on Constantinoupoleos and Korytsas streets. It is expected to provide service to hundreds of commuters traveling between the capital's downtown area and the country's biggest port.

By Alexandra Kassimi

Commuters will be able to travel from Athens to the western port city of Patra by train in just two hours once the construction of the Suburban Railway (Proastiakos) section from Kiato to Rododafni is completed by METKA SA, the listed company that won the project’s tender. This is expected in 2017.

Trainose is to change the timetables of number of train services in northern Greece, it said on Friday.

The changes will apply between July 21 and August 31.

For details, passengers can call 14511 or visit www.trainose.gr.

A 60-year-old man died on Wednesday morning after reportedly falling on the tracks as a train approached the Piraeus-Kifissia electric railway station of Omonia.

Early reports suggested that authorities were treating the incident as a suicide.