Elliniko Metro (), formerly Attiko Metro () until May 2023, is a Greek

State-owned State ownership, also called public ownership or government ownership, is the ownership of an industry, asset, property, or enterprise by the national government of a country or state, or a public body representing a community, as opposed to ...

company who is responsible for the development and construction of the

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 ...

and the

Thessaloniki Metro Thessaloniki Metro (, ) is an underground Rapid transit, rapid-transit system in Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city. The system consists of a single line with List of Thessaloniki Metro stations, 13 stations; a further 5 stations are ...

, as well as the

Athens Tram The Athens Tram is the modern public tram network system serving Athens, Greece. The system is owned and operated by STASY, which replaced Tram S.A. in June 2011. STASY operates a fleet of 25 Alstom Citadis and 35 Hitachi Sirio, Sirio vehicle ...

. Headquartered in the

Ellinoroson Ellinoroson ( ), literally 'of the Greek-Russians', is a suburb of Athens, Greece. As its name suggests, the area was first inhabited by Greeks fleeing from Russia. The Katechaki metro station serves Line 3 of the Athens Metro The Athen ...

neighbourhood of the center of

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 ...

, the

Greek government The Government of Greece (Greek language, Greek: Κυβέρνηση της Ελλάδας), officially the Government of the Hellenic Republic (Κυβέρνηση της Ελληνικής Δημοκρατίας) is the collective body of the Gre ...

created the company in July 1991: Elliniko Metro's original purpose was to oversee the delivery of the Base Project of the Athens Metro, which opened in three stages, in 2000 and 2003. Elliniko Metro also owned and operated the Athens Metro and Tram until June 2011, when

STASY Urban Rail Transport S.A. (, - pronounced as wikt:στάση, στάση "bus/train stop" ), 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 T ...

took over that role.

History

The

established Elliniko Metro as Attiko Metro () on 18 July 1991, under Law 1955/1991. The original purpose of Attiko Metro was to oversee the delivery of the Base Project of the

, whose contract had been awarded to the Olympic Metro consortium of 23 companies in the previous month.
The Base Project consisted of two lines with a total length of and 20 stations, and opened in three phases from 28 January 2000 to 22 April 2003. The Greek government then assigned Attiko Metro the role of developing and build the

in December 2003, and any future extensions to the

in 2013. On 18 May 2023, Greek Prime Minister

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis (, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician currently serving as the prime minister of Greece since July 2019, except for a month between May and June 2023. Mitsotakis has been president of the New Democracy (Greece), New ...

announced that in advance of the opening of the Thessaloniki Metro in 2024, Attiko Metro would change its name to Elliniko Metro.

Organisation

The

is currently the only

shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of corporate stock refers to an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the ...

of Elliniko Metro. Law 1955/1991 allows the partial privatisation of Elliniko Metro in the future, but the Greek government must retain a

controlling interest A controlling interest is an ownership interest in a corporation with enough voting stock shares to prevail in any stockholders' motion. A majority of voting shares (over 50%) is always a controlling interest. When a party holds less than the maj ...

of at least 51% over any resultant company: Elliniko Metro may also only merge with mass transit organizations that operate within the area of the former

Attica Prefecture Attica Prefecture () was a prefecture of Greece, first established in 1833 and disestablished for the last time in 1987. The prefecture was coextensive with the present-day Attica region. History Attica Prefecture was first established in 1833 ...

Current operations

Elliniko Metro is currently responsible for the development and construction of the

, the

, and the

Former operations

Elliniko Metro previously had two operational subsidiaries to operate and maintain Metro lines 2 and 3, and the current Athenian tram network: on 17 June 2011, AMEL and Tram S.A. merged with

Athens–Piraeus Electric Railways 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 m ...

(ISAP) to form

, a subsidiary of

Transport for Athens Transport for Athens (), officially the Athens Urban Transport Organisation (, , ), is the operator of public transport in Athens, Greece. Transport for Athens, through its subsidiary companies, operates metro, tram, trolleybus and bus servi ...

(OASA) instead of Elliniko Metro: * The Attiko Metro Operation Company (, ), commonly abbreviated to AMEL, operated and maintained the infrastructure of Lines 2 and 3 of the

, except for the surface section of Line 3 between and . Headquartered at the Sepolia Metro Depot at 94 Kifissou Avenue, AMEL was established on 15 February 2001, three years after Law 2669/1998 allowed Elliniko Metro to operate and maintain Lines 2 and 3. * Tram S.A. () operated and maintained the infrastructure of the

, which by June 2011 consisted of 35

Sirio Sirio may refer to: * ''Sirio'' (album), 2022 album by Lazza * Sirio Carrapa (born 1952), Italian mystic * Sirio Maccioni (1932–2020), restaurateur and author based in New York City * , a Maltese and Panamanian train ferry * , an Italian immig ...

trams and 48 stops. Headquartered at the tram depot in

Elliniko Elliniko (, meaning 'Hellenic' or 'Greek') is a coastal municipality in the Attica region and a southern suburban town in the Athens agglomeration in Greece. Since the 2011 local government reform, it has been part of the municipality of Ellin ...

, Tram S.A. was established in March 2001.
The logos of both companies were the same as the system that they operated.

Timeline of Athens Metro projects

In this table, the completion date refers to the opening of the last section or station in the contract: for example, the initial scheme of the

opened in three stages, on 28 January 2000, 15 November 2000, and 22 April 2003. The source reported that the opening ceremony took place at 12:00 on 15 November 2000, with the public being able to use the extension from 18:00 the same day.

References