Line A3 (Athens Suburban Railway)
Rapid transit line in Athens, Greece
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Regular passenger trains between Athens (then Larissa Station) and Chalcis began on 8 March 1904. By 1997, then-operator Hellenic Railways Organisation labeled the route as "suburban", alongside the (now-closed) metre-gauge Piraeus–Loutraki service, albeit with no special branding.
Immediately following the creation of the Athens Suburban Railway in July 2004, there were plans to extend the network towards Chalcis and Thebes by as early as 2006; although test runs between Athens and Chalcis took place in 2009, the plan was repeatedly delayed. From 18 January 2012 to 29 July 2017, the Athens–Chalkida service was extended southward to Piraeus, due to the suspension of the Suburban Railway between Piraeus and Ano Liosia.
TrainOSE started including services to Chalcis as part of the Suburban Railway network on 14 March 2012, with the service appearing on maps by the summer of that year. Electric train services using Class 460 electric multiple units were introduced on 30 July 2017, when the electrification of the Piraeus–Platy railway between Agioi Anargyroi and Athens was complete. The service was numbered as Line A3 on 1 August 2023.
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Route
Line A3 is 82.8 kilometres (51.4 miles) long, running between Athens in the south and Chalcis in the north, with intermediate stations and halts in northern Attica and Boeotia: the service uses the Piraeus–Platy railway from Athens to Oinoi, largely parallel to the A1 motorway, before following the Oinoi–Chalcis railway towards Chalcis. The service runs concurrently with lines A1 and A4 between Athens and Acharnes Railway Center (SKA), but it does not stop at Pyrgos Vasilissis and Kato Acharnes: it also has an interchange with Line A2 at SKA.
As of September 2026, there are 11 pairs of trains per day, with a frequency of one train every two hours: however, the southern terminus for the first northbound and last southbound service is Oinoi, where a Line A3 train is stabled overnight. On weekdays, there is an extra pair of trains between Athens and Afidnes during the morning rush hour, and two extra pairs along the full route in the early morning and early evening, increasing frequency to a peak of one train per hour.
Map
Stations
The spelling of the station names on this table, in English and Greek, are according to the signage.