A consortium of French engineer Alstom, Greek contractor Avax and Italy’s Ghella has won a €1.5bn contract for the fist phase of Line 4 of Athens’ metro.

Described by Alstom as one of the EU’s largest planned infrastructure projects, the work includes 15 stations, an operations control centre, the signalling system, maintenance facilities and 20 driverless trains.

The 12.8km first phase will run from Alsos Veikou in northern Athens via the city centre, to Goudi in the west and will connect with lines 2 and 3 of the current system.

Four other phases for Line 4 are planned:

Section B: Goudi – Maroussi (9.6km long, with eight stations)

Section C: Evangelismos – Ano ilioupoli (4.1km long, with three stations)

Section D: Alsos Veikou – Petroupoli (7.5km long, with six stations)

Section E: Maroussi – National Road (4.4km long, with three stations).

Construction work on phase one is expected to take eight years.