In Athens, a station master mistakenly sent a commuter train along a track in the metro network. The incident, which took place on October 9, has just come to light thanks to a complaint from the machinists’ union. The companies that manage the helena railway networkHellenic Train and OSE, have issued a statement in which they hold the station master and train driverstating that it is a case of “lack of professionalism and training” of those involved, while ensuring that in no case were the passengers of the convoy in danger.
They have also announced the opening of a disciplinary process to determine responsibilities. The operator, Hellenic Train, owner of the trains that circulate on the country’s railway network and responsible for their circulation, maintains that “the security protocols in all their procedures and are implementing modern training and evaluation systems for their staff. For its part, the Athens Prosecutor’s Office has requested an urgent investigation to clarify whether or not those involved in the incident committed a criminal act.
The train drivers, however, deny Hellenic Train’s conclusions and ask for the suspension of the company’s directors because, as they say, “they are trying to divert public opinion from the existing problems in the railway network” that they have been denouncing for months.
In addition, they assure that they are not afraid of sanctions and that they will continue fighting to improve existing problems on the network. On October 10, the Panhellenic Union of Machinists called a 24-hour strike to demand, among other things, the improvement of safety measures, the immediate implementation of remote control systems and light signaling throughout the network, the completion of infrastructure and superstructure projects, so that an accident like the one in Tempe in February 2023 does not happen again when a head-on crash left 57 victims mortals, mostly university students.
Serious deficiencies
The tragic accident in Tempe Valley brought to light the deplorable state in which the country’s rail transport system was: without remote sensing systems and traffic lights in much of the network despite the fact that Greece had received huge amounts of money from the EU for the conditioning and modernization works of the railway systems. railway safety.
On September 13, two commuter trains running on the same track They almost collided head-on in the section between Athens and Hagioi Anargyroi. According to a report from OSE, the company that owns the railway infrastructure, it was an error by the two workers at the Remote Control Center; the station master allegedly got up from his seat to go to the bathroom and the colleague who replaced him was not informed about the movement of the trains. According to OSE, the train from Corinthia should have waited at the station in the Athenian suburb of Hagioi Anargyroi, but the driver was ordered to continue the journey.
The Hellenic Train workers’ unions have complained on many occasions about the deplorable state of the railway network, which presents problems such as lack of maintenance on the roads and which often cause problems, such as the accident that occurred on February 14, when a convoy traveling through the Attica region with 35 passengers on board collided with some tree trunks that had fallen on the tracks.
Staff reduction
The Greek newspaper ‘Kathimeriní’ relates the problems of the railway network to the staff reduction carried out during the years of the crisis. According to this medium, 640 people currently work when the two companies that manage the network should have around 2,500. Not to mention the inadequate training they receive. In this sense, it is worth highlighting that the investigations of the Tempe head-on crash February 2023 they uncovered the fraudulent process by which Vasilis Samarashead of the Lárisa station, accused of placing the trains that collided on the same track, had been hired without meeting a single one of the requirements demanded in the call.
At the end of September, an auditor on the line between the cities of Athens and Chalcis was suspended from employment and pay after it was discovered that he defrauded travelers. «Such inappropriate incidents “They are inadmissible, unjustified and in no case reflect the integrity of the employees and the company,” Helenic Train said in a statement.
Given the incidents of recent months, the National Air, Railway and Transport Accident Investigation Agency has required all railway operators to strictly comply with the safety regulations provided for in the General Traffic Regulations, with special emphasis on observance of light signals, the application of punishments against violators and the immediate cleaning of the railway network.
In a press release, the agency states that the communication problems that caused the Tempe accident “remain a common practice to this day.” The organization also denounces the lack of a unified code in communications by radio and the lack of agreed terminology, which makes it difficult for the messages to be understood correctly by those involved,
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