Palaiofarsalos–Kalambaka railway

The southern terminal of the Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka line is Palaiofarsalos railway station near Farsala. It is separated from the Athens-Thessaloniki line and follows a branch of approximately 80 km. It continues to through Karditsa and Trikala, and advances north-northwest ending in Kalambaka.

The journey time between Athens and Kalambaka is around 4 hours and 58 minutes.

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 Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka line was inaugurated on 16 June 1886 (as part of the Thessaly Railways), with a metric range, with services to/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.[2]

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.[3] 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:

• Proastiakos Palaiofarsalos-Kalambaka. The journey takes around 48 mins.[4]

• OSE