Hellenic Train's revenue plummets after floods

Italian-owned railway operator Hellenic Train will reportedly seek to renegotiate its contract with the Greek state, sources have indicated, as the company faces massive revenue losses stemming from September’s floods in central Greece.

According to official estimates, it will take at least two years to restore service on the Lianokladi-Larissa stretch of the national rail network connecting Athens to the northern port city of Thessaloniki after it was severely damaged in floods caused by Storm Daniel.

The Athens-Thessaloniki route, meanwhile, represents around 60% of the Italian company’s annual turnover in the Greek market, with the latest expected losses coming on top of the effects of the deadly rail crash at Tempe in February.

While an official request has not been submitted yet for a renegotiation of the terms of the contract signed between the subsidiary of Italy’s state-owned Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane and the Greek state – which sold its operator, TrainOSE, in 2017 – it is considered almost a certainty in light of recent developments.

The developments are also causing serious concern among the more than 1,000 workers employed by Hellenic Train, who are bracing for the possibility of redundancies or cuts in working hours and, therefore, salaries.