Turkey and Greece Railway Meeting held in Thessaloniki

Turkey and Greece Railway Meeting held in Thessaloniki: Greece and Turkey gathered in Thessaloniki railway delegation. At the meeting, efforts were started to launch freight and passenger train operations between Istanbul and Thessaloniki until 2019.

The second meeting of the Turkey-Greece TCDD General Director İsa Apaydın and Athanasios Vourdas, Secretary General of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure of Greece.

Meeting; Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications and TCDD officials attended the Consul General of Thessaloniki Orhan Yalman Okan, Greek Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation and Greek Railway Administrative Representatives.

At the meeting; provision of freight and passenger trains between Istanbul-Thessaloniki operation until the year 2019, for the improvement of existing rail infrastructure in the Balkans, Turkey, Bulgaria and the agreement on a trilateral meeting with the participation of the Greek authorities was reached.

The parties had reached consensus on further investigate the possibility of Greece and Turkey could cooperate in third countries and railway companies prepare a separate protocol on this issue.

It was stated that works will be done to revive the Friendship-Filia Express, which was interrupted at the meeting.
The Friendship Express or Filia Express had been operating between July 2005 and February 2011, referred to as the “friendship train” between Istanbul and Thessaloniki.

Due to the economic crisis, the Greek government removed all international train services and the friendship train service ended on February 13, 2011.