Line A1 is an

Athens Suburban Railway The Athens Suburban Railway (), officially the Athens Suburban and Regional Railway, is a commuter rail service that connects the city of Athens and its metropolitan area with other places in Attica, Boeotia, Corinthia and the city of Chalcis in ...

(Proastiakos) line in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, managed by

Hellenic Train Hellenic Train S.A., formerly TrainOSE S.A. (), is a private railway company in Greece which operates passenger and freight trains on OSE lines. Hellenic Train employs train crews, operators and manages most of the rail services throughout the ...

. The service connects

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; ; , Ancient: , Katharevousa: ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens city centre along the east coast of the Saronic Gulf in the Ath ...

with the

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

. The line shares a part of its course with lines A2 and A4 as well as Metro line 3, but also with line A3 at

. The first Suburban line was inaugurated on 30 July 2004, using 17 OSE Class 560

DMUs A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

between Larissa Station (Now

) and the

. With the completion of the electrification of the sections of the line to Athens in 2017 and

in 2018. The line now exclusively uses

OSE class 460 The OSE Class 460 is the first class of electric trainsets (Electric multiple unit, EMU) in Greece and, together with the 621 class, it is the second most recent series of railcars operated by TRAINOSE after the 3107 class. They are OSE rolling st ...

EMUs Emus may refer to: * Emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the ...

rolling stock.

History

The initial planning phase of the service provided for the use of express trains (Airport Express) from Piraeus to the Airport with intermediate stations only in Athens, Agioi Anargyroi, Neratziotissa, Kifissias and Dukisis Placentias, and with a journey time of half an hour. In the end, however, the need to connect the capital's international airport with the city's most central station, Syntagma, imposed the joint travel of Suburban and Metro from

Doukissis Plakentias Doukissis Plakentias (), sometimes known simply as Plakentias, is an Athens Metro and Suburban Railway station situated at the end of Doukissis Plakentias Avenue in Chalandri, a municipality in the regional unit of North Athens, Attica, Greece. ...

to the

. The first section of what is now Line A1 opened on 30 July 2004: the

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

service ran from to the Airport, using Class 560

diesel multiple unit A diesel multiple unit or DMU is a multiple-unit train powered by on-board diesel engines. A DMU requires no separate locomotive, as the engines are incorporated into one or more of the carriages. Diesel-powered single-unit railcars are also ...

s. Electric train services using Class 460

electric multiple unit An electric multiple unit or EMU is a multiple-unit train consisting of self-propelled carriages using electricity as the motive power. An EMU requires no separate locomotive, as electric traction motors are incorporated within one or a number o ...

s were introduced between Neratziotissa and the Airport in 2006. On 4 June 2007, diesel services were extended south from Athens to , replacing the relevant part of the

metre-gauge railway Metre-gauge railways ( US: meter-gauge railways) are narrow-gauge railways with track gauge of or 1 metre. Metre gauge is used in around of tracks around the world. It was used by several European colonial powers including France, Britain and ...

of the

Piraeus–Patras railway The railway from Piraeus to Patras was a metre-gauge railway line in Greece that connected the port of Athens, Piraeus with Patras in the Peloponnese peninsula, via Athens "Peloponnese" central station and Corinth. It was opened between 1884 and ...

that closed in August 2005. Direct suburban railway services from Piraeus and Athens to the Airport were suspended on 6 July 2008, forcing passengers to change at and (until 14 February 2009) Neratziotissa. Direct services were restored with the

electrification Electrification is the process of powering by electricity and, in many contexts, the introduction of such power by changing over from an earlier power source. In the context of history of technology and economic development, electrification refe ...

of the

Piraeus–Platy railway The railway from Piraeus to Platy is an electrified double-track railway line that connects Athens to northern Greece and the rest of Europe. It constitutes the longest section of the mostly completed higher-speed rail line known as P.A.Th.E. ...

from to Athens on 30 July 2017, and then to Piraeus on 1 February 2018, when the last diesel services on what is now Line A1 ceased.

Route

On the Airport–Patras segment, Lines A2 and

Athens Metro The Athens Metro () is a rapid transit system serving the Athens urban area in Greece. Line 1 opened as a single-track conventional steam railway in 1869 and was electrified in 1904. Beginning in 1991, Elliniko Metro S.A. constructed and ext ...

Line 3 shares the route from the Airport up to and respectively. However, most Metro Line 3 trains start or terminate at , with a

through service A through service is a concept of passenger transport that involves a vehicle travelling between lines, networks or operators on a regularly specified schedule, on which the passenger can remain on board without alighting. It may be in either of th ...

to the Airport leaving once every 36 minutes.

Stations

The spelling of the station names on this table, in English and Greek, are according to the signage.

Notes

References

{{Athens Suburban Railway navbox, lines=A1 Railway stations in Greece opened in 2004 Railway stations in Greece opened in 2007

Railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

Railway stations in Greece opened in 1884

History

Route

Stations

See also

Notes

References