New metro system inaugurated in Athens

In the presence of the President of the Hellenic Republic,
Konstantinos Stefanopoulos, as well as the Prime Minister,
Konstantinos Simitis, a new and expanded metro system was
officially inaugurated in Athens today.

This metro system is not only one of the most advanced
systems but, due to the difficult nature of the ground and the
extensive archaeological finds encountered during the
excavation work, has also been one of the most technically
challenging new constructions in the public transportation
sector in the world.

The metro system was built as a turnkey project by the
Olympic Metro Consortium, led by SIEMENS (Germany) and
INTERINFRA (France) - of which ALSTOM is the main shareholder -
which comprises 21 German, French and Greek companies.

The project is for an overall value of approximately 2.2
billion euros and was financed up to approximately 50 percent
by the European Union and up to approximately

40 percent by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the
remaining funds being provided by the Greek government. The
Share of Olympic Metro amounts to approximately 1.5 billion
euros.

This new metro system is completely below ground and
designed to transport around 450,000 passengers daily. It
consists of two lines with 20 stations and covers a total
distance of about 18 kilometres. A total of 28 six-car metro
trains, each accommodating as many as 1,030 passengers, will
operate at speeds of up to 80 kph every 4 minutes during rush
hours and every 6 minutes during the off-peak hours.

The subway connects the major urban points, such as the old
city and the business district in the heart of Athens, with
each other as well as with the residential districts to the
north, south, east and west of the capital.

Together with the existing metro Line 1, which runs
extensively above ground and links downtown Athens with the
port of Piraeus in the south-west and with the suburban
terminus Kifissia in the north-east, the newly inaugurated
Lines 2 and 3 form the backbone of a high-performance mass
transit system for Greater Athens.

Three stations on the new lines enable passengers to
transfer to Line 1.

Today, Lines 2 and 3 are complete up to 70 and 90 percent
respectively. The contract with the end customer, Attiko Metro
A.E., Athens, requires Olympic Metro to finish the remaining
stations of Line 2 in a second construction phase and to hand
them over by the autumn 2000. The third and final phase of this
turnkey project is to be wound up by September 2002 with the
completion of the rest of Line 3.

The scope of services rendered by the consortium for this
turnkey contract not only involve the supply of the rolling
stock and the electrical and electronic equipment and the
construction of the lines, metro stations and traction power
supply, but also include the design of the complete metro
system. Furthermore, Olympic Metro is erecting a depot of
approximately 120,000 square metres for vehicle maintenance and
repair.

With the building contractors AEGEK, Domika Erga and Meton,
the engineer's office A.D.K. and the electrical equipment
supplier Siemens A.E., there were five Greek member companies
of the Olympic Metro Consortium who had a hand in the
realisation of this significant European infrastructure
project.

Around four million people live in the Greater Athens area,
almost half the entire population of Greece. Whereas private
motor vehicles and municipal buses previously offered the only
means of reaching the offices, shops and other amenities in the
jammed streets of the Greek metropolis, the new subway now
gives hundreds of thousands of commuters a very attractive
alternative mode of transportation. Journey times between the
major inner-city destinations and, above all, the outlying
districts have been reduced dramatically. For example, the trip
from Dafni, the southern terminus of Line 2, to the city centre
by car takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes today. The metro,
on the other hand, can take passengers there in 9 minutes.

Not only the Athenians have benefited from this new
transportation link. So, too, have the archaeologists, for the
ground underneath modern-day Athens, which has been populated
for over 9,000 years, revealed far more valuable relics than
had been expected. The boreholes and excavations performed in
the course of the tunnelling work for this project presented
the engineers and archaeologists, who were always on hand, with
a variety of graves with urns and sarcophagi, countless jars
and vases, foundries for statues, water pipes, smelting
furnaces, and buildings with murals dating from the Roman
times. The highlight, according to experts, was the find of an
excellently preserved Roman bath, complete with water basin and
ancient floor heating system.