An OSE Class 120 hauling the "Blue Cars" at Platy Station.
Greece is a mountainous country, making railways hard and expensive to build. However, for the last 25 years new lines have been under construction. The railway masterplan for Greece is called Rail P.A.Th.E. P is for Patras, Greece's third largest city, A is for Athens, the country's capital, Th is for Thessaloniki, the most important Greek train station situated in the city of the same name and E is for Efzonoi, a town near the Border with The Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia, where the line will connect to the other country's rail network. Scheduled for completion in 2017, travel times from Athens to Thessaloniki will decreased by 2 hours - the journey will last 3 and a half hours.
The line however is very long, so for Train Simulator the part between Larissa and Thessaloniki is the best to keep. The new, high speed line allows speeds up to 200 km/h (125 mph) and includes the long Tempi Tunnel, which bypasses the Tempi Area and forced the closure of the old line and cut journey times by 30 minutes. Similarly, the Platamonas tunnel passes under the legendary Platamonas Castle. There are many stations and stops along the line. The Intercities, the Greek express trains, use very few, the rest are used by the Thessaloniki Commuter Rail. From Larissa to Thessaloniki, the slow commuter trains will stop in Larissa, Rapsani, Neoi Poroi, Leptokarya, Litochoro, Katerini, Korinos, Aeginio, Platy, Adendron, Sindos and Thessaloniki New Passenger Station. The Intercities use only Larissa, Katerini, Platy and Thessaloniki. Evangelismos station, situated between Larissa and Rapsani is still not open to the public and it is unknown if and when it will open.
For rolling stock, the OSE Class 120 HellasSprinter, a common sight on the line, as well as Class 220 AdTranz, the most familiar sight on the Greek Rail Network with the "Blue Cars", as they are called. Add-ons could be Class 460 Desiro, operating the Commuter services, Class 520 AEG Intercity, the old Intercity rolling stock, now replaced by locomotive-hauled stock.