After decades of delays, Greece's second largest city, Thessaloniki, is counting the days until the opening of its long-awaited subway line on November 30.
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00:00A common joke in Thessaloniki is that the only thing slower than the city's traffic
00:05is the construction of its subway.
00:07But soon, this joke will be a thing of the past, because the city's new subway is about to open.
00:13On the morning of November 30, the subway will be ready for all the trains,
00:19the 18 trains that we have here.
00:21And we will have a target for the next year for the trains to pass every 90 seconds.
00:36In safety, in the stations there are, you cannot fall on the rails.
00:41Everything is automated and there is no human intervention.
00:46In the third line, which is covered for us, who work there, so that the electricity does not hit us.
00:53And in the fact that it has two separate rails, where there is no need for the trains to collide.
00:59Over the years, the decades-long wait for the subway and repeated delays
01:04have dismayed the city's residents and business owners alike.
01:09It is a plan that should have been implemented in 2005 and is almost 20 years old.
01:15It is a long delay and this brings trouble to the world and to the companies on the right and left,
01:21as a result, some have opened and some have closed because there was no specific plan.
01:25And the bad thing for me is that there was no notification.
01:27The issue, to take it from the beginning, in one word, in one sentence, is to open.
01:32I think it will help 1,100.
01:42You look for parking and you can't find it, because everyone is moving with their cars.
01:45Of course, there are tickets, but they are full.
01:48All the tickets are full because everyone takes a ticket to go to work.
01:52Because with cars, you see, there is chaos.
01:54That is, there is traffic at any time of the day.
01:57To be honest, I prefer to move on foot.
02:00I think that as many times as I have tried to take a taxi to move,
02:04to find my place of work quickly,
02:08we still find it difficult in this case,
02:10to find a taxi, but many times to arrive on time.
02:14I hope that with the subway, things will get much better.
02:18People get tired and it is very bad.
02:20They lose their beauty, because it is a beautiful city, really,
02:23and it is worth visiting.
02:25You can't calculate the route of the transfer.
02:28Especially when you have to leave.
02:30Okay, you say, come on, it doesn't matter, let's waste some time,
02:34but especially when you have to leave and you have to be on time,
02:38at a certain time it is a bit difficult.
02:40Greece's Deputy Infrastructure and Transport Minister
02:43says there were several reasons for the delay.
02:46We had delayed a lot in the issue of the management of archaeological finds.
02:51Thessaloniki is a city with a very rich history
02:55and, of course, with many levels of archaeological finds
02:59that stemmed from the excavations of the subway.
03:03There was an economic crisis, as we know.
03:05This means that other companies also have to be subordinated to the project.
03:10All this obviously led to delays.
03:12Yes, the truth is that it is a very painful project.
03:15With just weeks to go until the opening,
03:17Thessaloniki is looking forward to having one of the most modern subway systems in Europe
03:22and saying goodbye to the nightmare
03:24that is the daily commute in Greece's second largest city.