RAILWAY LINE THESSALONIKI - SKOPJE:
The first serious attempt to create a railway network in the southern Balkan territories, occupied by the Ottoman Empire, was made with the signing of a contract on 17 April 1869 between the Minister of Public Works Davut Pasha and Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who founded the company Societe Imperiale des Chemins de Fer de Fer de la Turquie d'Europe. This company had as a project the construction of the network alone, while the operation would be undertaken by the company of the Austrian Railways of the South. The priority lines to be built were: Constantinople (Istanbul) - Andrianople (Edirne) 319 km long, Adrianople - Serabey 243 km long, Adrianople - Alexandroupolis length 149 km, Thessaloniki - Skopje length 243 km, and Banja Luka - Bosanski Novi 102 km long. Work on the construction of the line began on 10 January 1871. The first 100 km, were released in June 1872, while in its entirety (243 km), it came into operation in 1873. In 1874 due to the success of the line, it was extended to Mitrovitsa, reaching the total length of 361 km. The station in Thessaloniki was located on the west side of the city in the area of the current commercial station. It also served the line Thessaloniki - Monastiri (Bitola). The operation of Hirsch's networks was ultimately not undertaken by the Austrian company, but by a new company, set up by Hirsch, which replaced his predecessor, called the Compagnie Generale d' Exploitation des Chemins de Fer de la Turquie d' Europe (General Company for the Exploitation of railways of the European Turkey). In 1879 the exploitation was undertaken by a new company of Hirsch, the Compagnie d' Exploitation des Chemins de Fer Orientaux (C.O.). With the end of the First Balkan War and the Treaty of London on 30 May 1913, the line finally entered Greek territory, but continued to be the property of the C.O. During WWII the line was widely used by allied troops and mainly by French. On 14 March 1918 finished the construction of the Axios - Ghefira unifying line, which connected the lines Thessaloniki - Monastiri and Thessaloniki - Skopje, without the need for the train to enter the city of Thessaloniki. In 1929, the Greek state paid 20.000.000 French francs to the Serbian railways, in order to acquire the Thessaloniki- Gevgelija section, which had been transferred from the C.O. to the Serbs in 1923, and its exploitation was undertaken by the Sidirodromi Ellinikou Kratous SEK (Hellenic State Railways). The kilometer numbering of the stations starts from Thessaloniki station.
RAILWAY LINE THESSALONIKI - SKOPJE
STATIONS - STOPS OF RAILWAY LINE THESSALONIKI - SKOPJE