Palaiofarsalos–Kalambaka railway

The southern terminus of the line is Palaiofarsalos railway station near Farsala. Here, the line separates from the Piraeus–Platy railway and follows a branch of 80.44 km (49.98 mi). It continues to Karditsa and Trikala, and advances north-northwest to the northern terminus in Kalambaka.

The duration of the regular stopping service between Athens and Kalambaka is 4 hours and 11 minutes, but faster travel times can be achieved by taking the InterCity service to Thessaloniki and changing trains at Palaiofarsalos.[2]

The stations on the Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka railway serve are:

• Palaiofarsalos railway station (connecting to Athens, Thessaloniki and suburban Athens)
• Karditsa railway station
• Trikala railway station
• Kalambaka railway station

The metre-gauge railway from Palaiofarsalos to Kalambaka was inaugurated on 16 June 1886 as part of the Thessaly Railways, with services to and from Volos.

After the First World War, the Greek state had planned the ambitious construction of several new rail lines and links, including a standard gauge line from Kalambaka on to Kozani and then Veroia creating a conversion of the route from Volos to Kalambaka on standard gauge. In 1927, the relevant decisions were made, starting in 1928, work was carried out on the construction of the new line from Kalambaka. But a year later, it was clear that the project would exceed the estimated costs many times over. In 1932, the construction work was stopped and remains unfinished.[3]

Freight traffic declined sharply when the state-imposed monopoly of OSE for the transport of agricultural products and fertilisers ended in the early 1990s. Many smaller stations on the network (with little passenger traffic) were closed, especially on the mainline section between Karditsa and Kalampaka.

In early 2001, the decision was taken to upgrade the line from 600 mm gauge to standard gauge and physically connected at Palaiofarsalos with the mainline from Athens to Thessaloniki. In 2001 the section between Kalampaka and Palaiofarsalos was converted from 600 mm gauge to standard gauge and physically connected at Palaiofarsalos with the mainline from Athens to Thessaloniki.[4] Since to upgrade, however, travel times improved and the unification of rail gauge allowed direct services, even InterCity services, to link Volos and Kalambaka with Athens and Thessaloniki. During the conversion, several smaller stations where closed, however, travel times improved and the unification of rail gauge allowed direct services, even InterCity services, to link Kalambaka with Athens and Thessaloniki.

The Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka railway is used by the following passenger services:

• Regional Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka. The journey takes around 48 mins.[5]

• OSE