Thessaloniki: test runs to Kalamaria

The extension of the Thessaloniki metro towards Kalamaria appears to be entering the home straight, according to a post by the Deputy Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Nikos Tachiaos, from the Pylaia depot on Tuesday 18 August 2026. As he wrote, “we are now counting the days”, and he made known that test runs towards Kalamaria have already begun and “from tomorrow they will also be carried out systematically during the day” — that is, from Wednesday 19 August. Until now those runs had been made exclusively at night.

The deputy minister referred to the runs that had already been noticed by passengers: “Some observant passengers have seen trains over recent nights, the so-called ghosts, stopping at stations with the sign ‘Mikra’, which the THEMA staff would not let them board.” At the same time he explained what is being processed at the depot: the certificates from those involved in the project have been gathered, and they are necessary for certification by the independent assessor and, subsequently, for the issuing of the operating licences. As he stressed, the process “concerns above all the safety of the travelling public”.

The technical element that explains the length of the process is that the extension towards Kalamaria is not a linear prolongation of the existing line but the addition of a new branch. This means that the metro has to be licensed afresh as a single network, and not simply that the existing licence is extended. The deputy minister acknowledged the delays and the mistrust he encounters: “I know about the complaints over the delay. A little while ago I was in the centre of Kalamaria and I met with the mistrust and suspicion of passers-by.” He described the undertaking as “extremely complicated for many different reasons that go back even to the original design”.

No precise date for the start of commercial operation was announced, nor was any timetable given for the completion of certification. Mr Tachiaos did, however, trail the next major project for the city, noting: “Let us not forget Pontou Street either, the extremely expensive project that follows, to complete an enormous intervention.” The extension towards Kalamaria adds stations in one of the densely populated areas of the urban complex, which is currently served exclusively by surface transport. More on transport in the relevant section.