Commuters to sweat it out this summer
Most of the air-conditioning units due to be installed in Athens-Piraeus Electric Railway (ISAP) carriages to keep some 500,000 commuters cool this summer will not be ready for another year, it was revealed yesterday. The government said last year that it hoped the project, first announced in 2002, would be completed this year, but Transport Minister Michalis Liapis indicated yesterday that there would be a further delay. He said only 18 of the 43 trains would be air conditioned by June. The temperature in ISAP carriages rises considerably in the summer as they are exposed to strong sunlight for most of their journey. It is also likely that the trains will be more crowded than previous summers, as figures released yesterday showed that commuters used the railway 120 million times in 2006, 3 million more than in 2005.
