Thessaloniki Metro: A New Era on Track

Thessaloniki has waited nearly three decades for this moment. The metro, the city’s newest crown jewel, has caused the people of Thessaloniki much hardship over the years: traffic and economic challenges, division over the ancient artifacts discovered during excavations, and political clashes. However, all that was forgotten when the ribbon was finally cut at the inauguration ceremony.

Thessaloniki’s subway (a “sibling” of the Milan and Copenhagen metros due to their shared technological approach) is now a reality! It extends for 9.6 kilometers beneath the city, beginning at the Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos in the west and ending at Nea Elvetia in the east. The 13 stations span nearly the entire city center, offering easy access to Thessaloniki’s main squares and major attractions.

The new subway system features Greece’s first driverless trains (although there are attendants on board), and the stations have automated platform door systems, making it easier to air-condition them and thus conserve energy. Another first for Greece is that Thessaloniki’s metro is the country’s first public transportation system to be operated by a private company, the Thema Consortium. Experienced travelers will also notice that the stations are deeper underground (ranging from -14 to -31 meters) compared to those in Athens, a choice made to avoid disturbing the city’s archaeological layers during construction. Let’s not forget that this city has been continuously inhabited for over 2,000 years.

In fact, work on the metro led to great archaeological discoveries, but that was also why construction took so long. Even though the tunnels were constructed at sufficient depth, building the 13 stations and the requisite ventilation shafts required extensive archaeological excavations – the largest ever such undertaking carried out in the city, spanning approximately 20,000 square meters. It’s estimated that more than 300,000 artifacts were unearthed during the work, which began in 2006 but, rather than being completed in 2012 as planned, was instead completed in late 2024. 

These archaeological digs distinguish the Thessaloniki metro as both a modern transit system and a tourist attraction. Antiquities were discovered at several of the stations, including two in the historic center (Venizelou and Aghia Sofia), two outside the city walls to the west (Dimokratias and Neos Sidirodromikos Stathmos), and three in the east (Sindrivani, Panepistimio and Fleming stations,) as well as at the Pylea depot.

History Uncovered

The discoveries at the Venizelou and Aghia Sofia stations, just 800 meters apart, reflect the city’s urban development over time, centered on the main road that has traversed the city from its founding and through its various stages: the Hellenistic gravel road and, during the Roman era and Late Antiquity, the Decumanus Maximus and the Byzantine Avenue or Middle Street, today’s Egnatia Street. Surrounding those streets were the densely built blocks that formed the neighborhoods of the city’s Byzantine marketplace. Shops and workshops flanked the street, exhibiting things for sale. A wealth of small artifacts and jewelry, including breastplate crosses, glass and bronze bracelets, and bronze – and occasionally silver – rings, attest to the area’s long-standing commercial character, particularly in the silver and goldsmithing trades.

According to the Ministry of Culture, the finds at the Venizelou Station comprehensively document the city’s successive building phases from Hellenistic times. The excavations revealed previously unknown archaeological layers, as Roman-era relics were unearthed during work on the Late Antiquity strata. Even though the Venizelou Station covers only 1,260 square meters, the archaeological dig spanned at least 3,500 square meters. It revealed the city’s founding phase under Cassander, which followed a Hippodamian grid layout with only minor deviations from the main street network.

The fate of the antiquities discovered at Venizelou Station divided scientists and local residents. A large segment of the scientific community advocated for the in-situ preservation of the artifacts. Successive governments took different views, with the most recent deciding to remove the antiquities to make way for the station’s development. They were subsequently reinstalled at the same location (but at a different depth) within the station. The result is a large indoor archaeological site of great interest that’s accessible to visitors.

In many stations, passengers can view a small portion of the antiquities found at each site on display. The Ministry of Culture has announced plans to build an underground archaeological museum in the city center, dedicated to artifacts discovered during the construction of the metro. Thessaloniki’s metro will shortly witness its first expansion: the first extension to the east, toward Kalamaria, will be added in the fall of 2025, with 4.8 kilometers of tunnels and five additional stations.

The environmental impact is also important, since the Kalamaria expansion is expected to serve over 300,000 passengers per day once completed. It’s predicted that, with the system fully operational, there will be around 57,000 fewer private automobiles on the roads each day, lowering CO2 emissions by 212 tons per day.