Daily Mail cheers Thessaloniki Metro: The underground museum and trains without drivers

Special mention was made of modern and brand new international media, among them. The British medium, Daily Mail, made reference to the ancients found and adorned Thessaloniki metro stations, the convenience it will offer to the residents of the city and the time and money spent to launch the trains that will no longer have drivers. “A subway system without a driver that is characterized as unique in the world was inaugurated on Saturday in the second city of Greece, Thessaloniki. The 9.6 km (6 miles) long line cost 3 billion euros and during construction – which lasted almost 20 years – over 300,000 treasures were discovered, many of which are now exposed at 13 metro stations”, reported in the Daily Mail article. “The workers discovered a market of the Byzantine era, a Roman cemetery and the remains of the busiest street in Thessaloniki in the 6th century. This is a busy street with many shops, archaeologists say. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, framed by the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou and Transport Minister Christos Staikouras, pressed on Saturday a blue button to start the operation of a system that was too late,” he continued. The Daily Mail report states that the first credits for research excavations were part of the 1976 budget. A station – museum “It is not just a public works project, which is incredibly important to the city. It is also a museum,” said the article using the words of Kyriakos Mitsotakis before visiting Venizelos station. According to the project’s contractor, manufacturers had to dig deeper than originally planned – up to 31 meters, to ensure that the tunnels would pass under archaeological findings. “It is an opportunity for Thessaloniki to become a second Rome, in terms of antiquities,” said Melina Paisidou, one of the archaeologists who discovered the underground relics. “The officials stated that the operation of the line would mean 57,000 fewer cars per day in the suffocating city, while 254,000 passengers are expected to use the system daily. Thessaloniki has a population of 300,000, which increases to over 1 million if the suburbs are included and is the second largest metropolitan area in Greece. An extension of the line to the east with 5 additional stations is scheduled to operate in 2025. An extension to the west is also planned. But it will probably take several more years to reach the subway at the city’s busiest Macedonia airport. The trains were built by Hitachi Rail, which said the new subway would reduce 77,000 tons of CO2 annually.