According to the first conclusions of this independent authority, "the training of staff by the OSE (which manages the rail network, editor's note) was incomplete and therefore inadequate", including that of station masters.

The Greek railway regulator (RAS) found that it had "not been proven" that "the traffic sector staff, including the station master involved in the accident" had completed "their theoretical and practical training".

However, these shortcomings constituted an "immediate and serious" threat to the safety of passengers travelling by train, according to the same source.

The head-on collision between a passenger train and a freight convoy on the evening of 28 February in Tempé, near the central town of Larissa, killed 57 people, many of them young people.

The master of Larissa station, a 59-year-old man, described by the media as inexperienced, was remanded in custody five days after the train disaster after admitting responsibility for the accident.

Before colliding head-on, the two trains had been running on the same track for several kilometres without any alert being triggered.

The stationmaster was charged with "negligent manslaughter".

Dilapidation

Faced with these serious malfunctions, the regulator decided "unanimously to take emergency measures due to serious indications of violation of railway legislation," according to the statement.

In addition to the responsibility of this station master, the dilapidated state of the railway network, delays in the modernization of signalling and safety systems, have been pointed out to explain this rail disaster that has raised a wave of indignation in Greece.

In 2017, as part of the privatizations imposed on Greece by its creditors (EU and IMF), the public body OSE was split in two. The passenger and freight transport was sold to the Italian Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (FS) and renamed Hellenic Train.

The infrastructure and the railway network remained in the bosom of the State, which then delayed modernizing it.

After the accident, Hellenic Train handed over responsibility for the tragedy to the OSA.

A young woman pays tribute to the victims of the Larissa train disaster that killed 57 people, in the train station in Rapsani, Greece, on March 5, 2023 © Sakis MITROLIDIS / AFP / Archives

Union officials had warned about the signalling problems before the rail disaster but were not heard.

The governments of recent years have been accused of neglecting this project of modernizing the network while the train is poorly developed in Greece where the population favors the car and buses that crisscross the country.

"National tragedy"

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis acknowledged his government's responsibilities and promised a "thorough" investigation to discover the causes of this "national tragedy", the worst train accident in recent years in Greece.

On Monday, he asked French railway manufacturer Alstom, which is responsible for installing safety systems on the Greek network, to complete the work "as soon as possible".

The director of the RAS, Ioanna Tsiaparikou, had already sounded the alarm in January by denouncing the "poor state of the railway network" and "lack of staff" in the country's railway stations.

The regulator had also imposed a fine of 300,000 euros on Hellenic Train last year for leaving more than 800 passengers stranded on trains during a cold wave in winter 2022.

The accident in Tempé has provoked a movement of anger and massive demonstrations as general elections are to be held by early July.

© 2023 AFP