Yunanti Has A New Subway System: Passengers Are Promoted By Ancient Artifacts To The Remaining 6th Century Road

Venizelos Metro Thessaloniki Station. (Twitter/@time_for_ef)

JAKARTA - The new metro system in the city of Thessaloniki, northern Greece, was inaugurated at the end of November on a driverless train, while tens of thousands of people hit rainy and windy weather to wait outside the station to try it.

The subway line with 13 stations is packed with passengers who are eager to experience the city's new transportation system.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, accompanied by President Total Sakellaropoulou and Transport Minister Christos Staikores, pressed the inauguration button to begin the long-awaited operation of the system, reported by CNN January 2.

PM Mitsotakis said the first allocation of funds for exploration was part of the 1976 budget. In 1999, banners at the entrance to the city's international trade fair said "metro will be coming soon near you."

Years of court disputes resulting in contract cancellations, real estate disputes, and disputes over station deployments near important archaeological discoveries, thwarted the project.

When the first carriage arrived in 2019, the government previously held an "resolution" by placing the carriage on a cement mount.

The delay pushed project costs to more than 3 billion euros, said Staikores.

Interestingly, passengers entering Eleftherios Venizelos Station in the city center can see several of the more than 300,000 artifacts excavated by archaeologists.

Far underground, the remains of the city's busiest road in the 6th century were found. This is a busy highway with many shops, archaeologists say.

Antiquities are also displayed outside the nearest station, under protective glass.

Many objected and strongly protested about the temporary transfer of many findings to complete the construction of tunnels and build stations.

Officials said the operation of the route would reduce 57,000 cars per day in the congestion-hit city, with an estimated 254,000 passengers using the system every day in a city of more than 300,000 people and more than one million if it included the outskirts of the city, Greece's second largest metropolitan area.

The extension to the west is planned. However, it will likely take several more years for the metro to reach the city's busy Macedonia Airport.