Athens (GR) – December
Our first visit to Greece. We mostly spent our time with the trolleybuses. Piraeus local lines 17 and 20 had just been converted to battery bus two weeks before but line 16 still operates (for now). We managed to ride all the lines (some are very long routes but have very long headways and sometimes only one or two vehicles operate per line – it took some time (a few days) to do them all). Some lines are more frequent. It was nice to see the old Neoplan buses in central Athens (mostly line 15) as these had for many years avoided downtown. Line 19B seems to be a new line (vehicles sometimes switch during the day from line 18 to 19B and back). Line 19 only operates twice a day when it is still dark (in winter) – the outer end has no other trolleybus lines on it.
Trolleybus
Trolleybus Depots
Metro
We also looked at the metro briefly (mostly whilst using it). We did not capture everything because of lack of time and will probably return there in 2026. The old ISAP line Piraeus – Athens (locals still call it the “electric railway” – now line 1 of the metro) has unfortunately mostly heavily grafitti covered trains that make it impossible to read individual car numbers (with a few exceptions). We also managed a quick forbidden photo of car 427G (originally 12 from 1904, rebuilt in 1947 and again in 1972; just half a car survives today) in the small private ISAP museum inside Piraeus station.
The line 1 cars seem to operate in fixed formations and the number on the front indicates that train formation number (on more recent cars that often are not covered by graffiti one can clearly see this is part of the fleet number). Older cars have individual numbers. The most modern sets have digital displays on the front and there the number shown is the duty (run) number, not the train formation number. Motor cars are usually designated “M” (or D) and trailers “T”.
There are three batches of cars running in line 1: (this listing is unfortunately not confirmed as there is conflicting information out there: see notes – we will update this info once we get confirmation…)
- 8th delivery batch (LEW/MAN 1983-85) are numbered 101-145, 201-215 and 301-315 (these operate as 3-cars sets coupled to a 2-car set: M-T-M + M-M) – note: we are not sure why no 9th delivery batch seems to exist
- 10th delivery batch (AEG/Hellenic Shipyards 1993-95) 144-175, 226-236, 315-523 (same formation as the 8th batch) – note: other sources say 8th/10th batch are numbered B01-56 (motor cars) + C-01-56 (shunting motor cars)
- 11th batch (Adtranz/SiemensHellenic Shipyards/Bombardier 2000-2004) 3101-3108(?), 3201-3240 (two 3-car sets coupled: M-T-M + M-T-M; 3125-3213-3126 is one such set) – note: other sources say these are running as D-M-M-M-M-D.
- Some line 2/3 trains of the “1st generation” (there are 28 in total but only a few of them are on line 1) also operate on line 1: These have cabs at the outer ends only (6 car trains; there are “A”, “B” and “C” cars) – built in 2000 by Siemens/Daimler Benz/Alsthom. Other sources describe these 1st generation trains as follows: There are 61 trains in total: 21 B-series B601-621 (driving motors), 22 D-series A1-11 + G417-27 (driving trailers), 18 T-series F410-18 (trailers).
Lines 2 and 3 have class designations (not delivery batches), these were operated by a different company originally (AMEL). Now all metro lines are operated by STASY. We have only manged to photograph the following cars (line 1 if no line is mentioned) where the fleet number was actually visible (and not covered by graffiti): 1-325, 1-170, 1-173, 3-145, 3-149, 3-162, 07-A43/C43, 07-A44/B44/C44, 09-A53/54, 11-3140, 19-A21/C21, 23-3152, 26-A04/B04/C03/C04, 51-D222 (line 3).
Tram
Two lines operate these days: T7 Piraeus (Aghia Triada) to Asklepieio Voulas (though many change ends at Pikrodafni and then head to Syntagma) and T6 Syntagma to Pikrodafni. The old Siro type trams only seem to operate on line T6 and not on weekends. We did see the Siro trams but on the weekend where we wanted to take photos of them they simply did not appear. Needs another visit! The stub terminus at Piraeus is not used yet (it has a functioning ticket machine though), the trams sit at Aghia Triada to await their departure time (this is on a big single track loop around downtown Piraeus). Old tram #82 (ex Piraeus – Perama (operated by a subsidiary of ISAP) sits at the Kasomouli stop of line 6. It was used as an STASY office for a while but now seems to be occupied by homeless people. It is unfortunately heavily covered in graffiti and the last two images of the following photo gallery are AI trials to remove that grafitti (but both are not quite accurate regarding the original livery – added here just for fun). Another car sat at Pikrodafni for some years but this has been replaced by 2 “container” offices for STASY.
Warsaw (PL) – December
Just a few photos whilst waiting for my next flight. There are still many 105Na (variously refurbished) cars running on a weekday.
