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The Greek Railway organization is daily losing about €2.2 million and the total debt amount is about €9.4 billion, according to data provided by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. The huge losses require immediate restructuring of the organization, cutting back on expenses and raising service prices. Representatives of the Ministry of Transportation said that within eight months a new project for strengthening and restructuring of the railway will be introduced.

In a meeting with employees of the organization minister of transport and infrastructure Dimitris Repas said that a main priority of the ministry is to create an effective strengthening program, which will keep employees so that there won’t be any layoffs.

Most of the people working for the Greek railway organization are over 50 years old—in other words, close to retirement. They are trained to work with old technology. Meanwhile modernizing the railway system in Greece will open new job positions for young experts. By the end of the year about 400 employees are about to retire and another 400 in 2010. Managing personnel and reconstruction will be done with the help of the Ministry of Labor. This way a dramatic decrease of personnel will be avoided.

It is expected that the price of train tickets will increase during the upcoming year, said representatives of the ministry. Mainly this increase will affect the popular destinations – for example Athens-Thessaloniki. It is expected that the new price will reach 70% of the value of a bus ticket to the same destination. The first increase is expected by the end of the year, the second in April 2010 and the third one eight months later – in December 2010. The expected income after the increases account for €39 million.