Metro system is dream come true for Athenians

After decades of waiting, the long-suffering commuters of Athens will go underground today when the Greek government opens a …

After decades of waiting, the long-suffering commuters of Athens will go underground today when the Greek government opens a new metro system. This transport revolution has done more to unearth the capital's unrivalled cultural past than perhaps anything else, so far producing treasures that span 3,000 years.

"The metro was a dream for Athenians," said the Greek Environment Minister, Mr Costas Laliotis, who will oversee the network's fiesta-style inauguration. "A dream that has thrown up archaeological finds from every era of our history."

Most of the 21 gleaming, graffiti-resistant white marble stations fall within the shadow of the city's main showpiece, the 2,500-year-old Acropolis. Just travelling the tube will be an art connoisseur's delight, say archaeologists, who dug up 30,000 ancient Greek and Roman artefacts during the eight years it took to construct the network. Highlighting the finds, the San Francisco consortium in charge of the project has made enjoyment of the treasures in this, the world's richest archaeological setting, a top priority.

"The three main stations will, in essence, be small museums," Mr Laliotis enthused. "Artefacts that were excavated during the course of the works, treasures dating from the 6th century BC to about AD1000, will be be put on show."

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He said the artefacts, to be displayed in bullet-proof cases, would almost certainly increase as the metro extended across the sprawling metropolis, a project to be completed by 2002. Syndagma Station, the network's hub, will exhibit finds ranging from a skeleton uncovered in an ancient tomb to amphorae (large pots), clay lamps and fragments of a floor dating from the 4th century AD. Even better, it is hoped the system, which expands the single-line railtrack running from the city's leafy northern suburbs to the port of Pireaus in the south, will play a crucial role in eradicating Athens' vicious smog.

Thirty years of explosive urban growth have seen private cars in the capital increase from some 36,000 to nearly two million. In that time the population of the greater Athens area has shot up from 1.9 million to nearly five million.

"No city needed a breather more from all that traffic congestion and pollution," said Mr Leonidas Kikiros, the engineer who presided over the metro project.

Transit experts estimate that some 250,000 smog-belching vehicles will be removed from the streets daily, once the network becomes fully operational.

Streets leading up to the Acropolis were pedestrianised this month.