The Minister of Development, Competition, Infrastructure, Transport and Networks, Kostis Hatzidakis, presided over the inauguration of Line 2 of the Athens underground built by FCC in a joint venture with a local contractor, J&P Avax. The Minister was joined by other authorities such as Stratos Simopoulos, Secretary of State for Public Works, Nikos Stathopoulos, Secretary of State for Transport, Andrés Pajatouridis, Mayor of Peristeri; Christos Tsitouras, Chairman of Attiko Metro SA (public sector company in charge of building the underground) and Nicholas Papathanassis, Chairman of STASY SA (public sector company that operates the underground) along with FCC’s representatives in Greece: Athanasios Notas (Manager of the joint venture),Javier Mota Sánchez (Project Manager), Elleni Flaski (Contractual Manager) and Stellios Kollonis (External Agent and Adviser).

With this project, the largest municipality in western Athens, the municipality of Peristeri, now has three underground stations (Agios Antonios, Peristeri and Anthopouli) which serve 75,000 people daily. The residents of Peristeri can now travel comfortably, safely and quickly to the "Elleniko" station on the other side of the metropolitan area in less than a half hour and can get to the Sintagma station (downtown Athens) in just 10 minutes. The quality of life of local residents will be substantially improved now that they have a fast and reliable mode of transport, the use of which will have a decisive impact on the area’s daily traffic jams.

The two new underground stations have revitalised the Peristeri region not only in terms of the aesthetic improvements brought about by the above-ground remodelling but also in terms of the improvement to the area’s transport system.

Two stations for 140,000 inhabitants. The project to prolong Line 2 of the underground, awarded to FCC in June 2006 by Atikko Metro, consisted of the construction of two stations (Peristeri and Anthopouli) and a 1,380 metre long tunnel which concludes the line connecting downtown Athens to the municipality of Peristeri. With a population of 140,000, it is located to the west of the city and is considered one of the key municipalities in the Province of Athens.

FCC’s participation in the construction of Line 2 began with the rescue of a tunnel boring machine that was being used to dig a tunnel on a previous project not involving FCC which connected to the new section awarded to the company. The shield tunnel boring machine had become trapped and the contract called for the machine to be “rescued” (by drilling a circular shaft) and then for the tunnel to be completed using conventional methods.

The Peristeri Station, measuring 112 metres long and 24 metres deep, has three levels, one each for turnstiles, lobby (including access control) and platforms. Due to the fact that part of the station runs underneath the municipality’s main avenue and two buildings, the tunnel had to be built in the form of a mine tunnel. This was one of the most technically difficult aspects of the work as it involved a large tunnel in an urban area with a 200 square metre free section which came to be known as the “Great Cavern”. The execution was a success in terms of both deadlines and quality, with zero settling caused by the excavation.

The area adjacent to works, including Democracy Place which has been in use for the last two years, underwent significant remodelling. The newly remodelled area now occupies a total of 9 hectares and includes a garden area and a visitors’ zone. Another unique architectural feature of the new square is the glass dome which allows natural light to filter into both levels of the Peristeri station.

The "Anthopouli" Station measuring 147 metres long and 20 metres deep, has one level for access control and turnstiles and another for platforms. The critical aspect of this station was the construction of one of the accesses to the lobby which required the excavation of a tunnel with a 15 square metre free section and less than 2 metres of cover.

ALPINE is the leader of a joint venture that is currently building the prolongation of Line 3 of the Athens underground, including the Haidari stations and the Eleonas terminal. The project includes the construction of a 1.5 kilometre long tunnel using the New Austrian Tunnelling Method (NATM).