The construction of the Athens underground railway ran into serious technical difficulties (unstable soil, with subsidence and damage to adjoining buildings, in particular in Syntagma) as well as obstacles of historical and cultural origin. Excavation work regularly turned up archaeological remains of great value which needed researching or conservation and held up the building work.

As anticipated, excavations revealed material from the neolithic up to the modern era. Discoveries included a bathhouse, metal working shops, aqueducts and cisterns, ancient roads and city walls, drains, cemeteries and random burial, and an enigmatic room filled with oil lamps decorated with erotic scenes. Significant artefacts and features were detached, preserved and stored in secure facilities.

The Olympic Metro Consortium (OMC) and the Greek Ministry of Culture (MoC) where both responsible for the archeological aspects of the construction of the metro.

The role of the MoC was to plan and supervise the excavations, safeguard artifacts, inform the public through museum exhibits, study collections and popular and professional publications. OMC, taking into consideration the project's construction phases and time schedule, prepared a proposal for the archaeological excavation to be implemented prior to the main construction works, mobilized resources and provided technical support to perform excavations, conservation and storage. This support included specially trained personnel, supplies, tools, equipment, as well as laboratory and storage facilities.

Prior to the commencement of the works, OMC, in co-operation with MoC, verified through investigation trenches and based on other methods any anticipated archaeological areas presenting high risk, based on the outcome of careful mapping of previous investigations conducted below surface, as well as based on finds encountered near the excavations of new building foundations, on the research of ancient literature and records such as the travelogue of Pausanias, trial trenches and modern techniques, such as the use of ground penetrating radar. This analysis highlighted five stations where major excavations of significant duration have been performed prior to the commencement of any construction works.

At worksites, where it was not anticipated to encounter significant archaeological finds, MoC archaeologists were 'on-call' and responded as soon as construction workers encountered antiquities. In this case, labor personnel was removed from the area until the completion of the archaeological investigation. Unexpected archaeological finds included a sarcophagus at ETHNIKI AMYNA Station and large Roman-period drains at LARISSA Station, EVANGELISMOS Station and Paleologou shaft. Amalias shaft was relocated because of the unexpected encounter of a very important roman bath.

The decision to use tunnel boring machines to bore 12 km of train tunnels through solid rock was made on the grounds of eliminating the possibility to encounter cultural treasures. Some stations such as AKROPOLI, MONASTIRAKI and PANEPISTIMIO Stations were built using underground tunnel boring techniques, instead of the surface excavation technique, aiming at mitigating disturbance to known archaeological sites. Other factors, besides archaeology, were taken into consideration in order to come up with this decision; namely, the restriction of impact on traffic, utilities, commercial activity and on the life of the city.

Approximately 580,000 passengers use the two Metro Lines on a daily basis. Based on ATTIKO METRO’s surveys and calculations, the Metro’s operation reducedby 70,000 the number of cars entering the city centre or, in other words, it reduced the vehicular traffic by 335,000 vehicular kilometres on a daily basis.

At the same time, the Metro operation was combined with the restructuring of other public transportation modes as well, by reducing the bus terminal stations in the city centre due to the creation of new bus terminal stations close to the Metro Stations. Therefore, the Metro’s operation reduced significantly not only the number of private cars, but also that of buses in the center of Athens.

The Metro has financed the execution of archaeological excavations extending over 69,000 square meters – the largest ever archaeological excavation project in Athens.

The construction of the project was subsidized for 50% by the EU. In addition, the European Investment Bank (EIB) financed 39% of the Project through loans. The remaining funds were provided by the Greek Government.

Total cost: 1,966 million euros
EU contribution: 983 million euros

Attiko Metro S.A.
Phone: +30 1 679 23 99
info@ametro.gr

01/01/2000

case

Urban Policy

Transport and infrastructure