Cleaning work to restore the railway network in the Tempi tunnel continues at an intensive pace by OSE crews, with the aim of opening a track for freight trains by midnight.

According to OSE decision makers, after midnight it is expected to open the single track for the commercial trains, if no extreme weather phenomenon occurs, while from tomorrow, Wednesday, the aim is to carry out normal services on the railway axis Athens – Thessaloniki. Work is currently underway to block 50 manholes from a large drainage system placed on a train platform over a 2 km length where debris and rubble have been spread.

Speaking to ERT, Panagiotis Terezakis, Managing Director of OSE, speaking to ERT, said of the current situation in the tunnel and the Tempi railway network after the passage of the Bora storm, “At the moment most of the water in the tunnel has gone. Now the crews have started to take away the mud and debris to start cleaning the line. Subsequently, they will have to be hosed down, with water, to clean the tunnel so that it can be put back into traffic. Our plan is by this evening they should be able to clear one of the two tracks so that we can restore single-track traffic. Mainly to get the commercial through first, because there is an issue at both ends, Athens and Thessaloniki, with a large number of loads that need to be handled. In the coming night, we will also complete the cleaning on the second track to be able to give traffic on both tracks tomorrow morning as normal to fully restore traffic.”