Train and Rail Travel in Macedonia Northern Greece Page 8 (see Greece train map)

International Train Connections from Thessaloniki

International through trains connect Greece's second largest city with Western and Central Europe via FYROM, Eastern Europe via Bulgaria and Turkey through Pythion. Thessaloniki is the only major Greek city linked to the rest of Europe via a through railway passenger service. To get accurate train information it is better to check with railway authorities in Thessaloniki rather than in Athens.

The railway going north from this city to the border station of Idomeni has only one stop, Polykastro. The line is 76km long. It was part of a grand Turkish railway plan in 1869, completed during the seventies, first carrying the Orient Express in 1888. At the time it seemed that Thessaloniki might become a significant port on a direct route from Europe to the Far East via the Suez Canal, but this didn't happen. International trains through Idomeni use the same rail corridor as all trains out of the Thessaloniki station up to the point where the Alexandhroupoli line goes off to the right along the Gallikos River, and the international line cross the same river on a 20span bridge, continues along a marshy plain, and turns northward on reaching the Axios River near the Gefyra station, to follow this river for 200km to the city of Skopye in FYROM.

Irrigation and flood control works control the Axios River; American built drainage works which reduced the former Lake Amatavor are near Kastanas. The alluvial flats reclaimed from the drained lake are between the villages of Aspros and Limnotopos. Polykastro is reached after crossing the Axios on a large bridge. This town has a population of 4,700, and is the point at which the old, abandoned Turkish Thessaloniki bypass line (20km long) connected to the Alexandhroupolis line near Kilkis. Polykastro is on the southwest end of Lake Ardzan, near an Iron Age site (Tsaotsitza); west of the town is one of Greece's northernmost wine producing villages-Goumenitsa. Founded in the 15th century, this town was an major silk and wine center. It is the wine that is today experiencing a big revival, with local wineries also producing raki, the Greek spirit made from the grape residue after wine making (similar to the Italian grappa). From Polykastro the line follows the Tsingan gorge (10km) at the foot of Mt. Paikon to the border station at Idomeni; the gorge was once the main north-south invasion route for Slav and Germanic tribes to penetrate the warmer climatic regions to the south.

More Trains in Northern Greece page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Train Options

Why the Train, Trains Map, Peloponnese I, Peloponnese II, Central Greece, Thessaly, S. Macedonia, Northern Greece, Thrace, Train Routes, Train History