The inauguration of Thessaloniki’s metro comes just days after the opening of the Riyadh metro network, where the Group built the Orange Line (Line 3), and the M4 line in Milan, which opened in October

Milan, November 30, 2024 – The underground treasures of Thessaloniki, a city founded in 315 BC by Cassander, King of the Macedonians, and named after Alexander the Great’s sister, are being brought to light. The sprawling construction project for the city’s first metro system has also become its largest archaeological excavation.

Starting today, Thessaloniki's cutting-edge metro system runs beneath the intricate urban fabric of a city with over 2,000 years of history. This state-of-the-art line spans 10 kilometres, with 13 stations serving some of the city’s most populous and central neighbourhoods. Featuring driverless trains equipped with high-tech automation systems, the metro is set to transform urban mobility. Built by Webuild in collaboration with Hitachi and the Greek company Aktor, the metro can transport 315,000 passengers daily, removing an estimated 60,000 vehicles from the streets. With trains running as frequently as every 90 seconds, this project is more than just a triumph of sustainable mobility; it’s also a living museum. Equal emphasis was placed on preserving and revitalising the city's historical and archaeological heritage and implementing the latest in engineering innovation, making this metro a true marvel of modern urban development. 

Greece’s second-largest city, bolstered by its port—the country’s second busiest for trade after Piraeus—now unveils a one-of-a-kind engineering marvel. Passing through one of the 13 stations, transformed into 'archaeo-stations,' travellers embark on a journey through time.

The inauguration day of Thessaloniki's new metro system—the first in the city’s history and Greece’s first driverless metro—becomes a celebration of art and an opportunity to highlight a project that bridges the demands of sustainable mobility with the revitalization of major urban centres. The metro tunnels, excavated using two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs), were accompanied by the city’s most extensive archaeological digs to date, spanning an area of 30,000 square meters. Excavations uncovered treasures of immense historical value, such as numerous marble slabs from the famous Roman road known as the Decumanus Maximus. Such was the commitment to preserving this heritage that, in some cases, station locations were adjusted based on archaeological discoveries. For instance, the Demokratias station was shifted 10 meters to better accommodate the remains of a Byzantine-era wall uncovered during the digging.

These achievements are the result of Webuild Group’s extensive experience in constructing metro lines in urban areas with significant archaeological value. Similar expertise was applied during the construction of Milan’s M4 metro line and is currently being employed in the development of the Piazza Venezia station on Rome’s Metro C, set to become one of the world’s most extraordinary "archaeo-stations."

The Thessaloniki metro inauguration comes just days after the opening of the Riyadh metro network, where Webuild built the Orange Line (Line 3), the longest line in the Saudi capital’s entire 176-kilometer metro system. Meanwhile, last October saw the launch of Milan’s M4 line, a 15-kilometre route connecting the city centre to Linate Airport in just a few minutes.

Webuild has a long-standing presence in Greece, dating back to the 1950s. The Group contributed to the construction of Athens' Line 3 metro and, even earlier, to the city's tram network for the 2004 Olympic Games. The Group also completed the groundbreaking Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in the Greek capital, which houses both the National Library and the Greek National Opera.

In the metro sector, the Group has built some of the most stunning Art Stations on the Naples metro in Italy, the Cityringen metro in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the skytrain viaduct for the Sydney metro in Australia. Webuild is currently working on technically challenging projects such as Rome’s Metro Line C, the Grand Paris Express (including the recently awarded Line 15 West and the nearly completed Line 16), and the Suburban Rail Loop East in Melbourne, for which it recently signed the contract.