Tempi disaster: Trains must be stopped until lines are upgraded

happened in Tempi human error. However, this does not detract from the responsibility of all those who left the Greek railway without automated control systems, rather the opposite.

Greece spends hours national mourning and collective pain, and all thoughts go to the relatives of the victims, the missing and the wounded, especially those who are seriously injured.

And even if political leadership vows to investigate the causes of the tragedy in Tempi, and if all Greeks want to finally shed light on this country so that the guilty are punished and the mistakes corrected, one problem remains: the people of Greece do not feel safe. Now they do not trust rail transportation and they know that the railway “kingdom” stinks of rot.

This means that the movement of trains should be stopped until a complete revision of the management system is carried out and measures are taken to ensure the safe operation of the railway network, which were farmed out to foreign investors for nothing and without any control.

The shocking complaints that are emerging, the documents showing that everyone knew about the safety problems of the trains, but did nothing, also confirm those who argue that here and now the railway in Greece should be stopped.

Railways need to be shut down until all necessary steps are taken to keep the arteries safe and we bury no more victims.

Here and now, not just today, tomorrow or for a week former TRAINOSE and now private Hellenic Train, passed into the hands of the Italians, must stop work.

Even forever, if responsible persons, the state and the company, do not start modernizing the railway network.

In an age of technological revolution, when telematics has changed transport all over the world and not only, it is not clear that in Greece in 2023 trains will work like in the age of steam locomotives.

And it is bitter to hear from time to time about the “silver arrow” that will fly at unimaginable speed and make the trip from Athens to Thessaloniki in 2-3 hours when there is no basic security infrastructure.

Human error and liability

If in tragedy Tempo a tragic mistake was made stationmasterthis does not cancel the general responsibility of the management company and the state.

Under no circumstances can only the stationmaster and tragic human error be blamed. The problem is not with the person, even if someone is “unlucky”… turn the arrow on the tracks.

The problem is that there have been serious delays in the investment that should have been made in both the security and signaling system and the outdated communications system.

While in other countries the railway was modernized and everyone talks about speeds even over 600 kilometers per hour, then in Greece we are talking about cut wires, theft cables by gypsieslack of communication between the heads of stations, disconnected signals, short circuits that create daily delays, due to the lack of sensors that should have been placed on the lines for a long time, due to a non-functioning telematics system, due to a lack of employees in the company.

There were no safety systems in place to prevent tragedy. And even if the head of the station would not have made this mistake, with such a mess, the accident would have happened sooner or later anyway. And she could be much worse. If “God forbid” a collision would have occurred in a tunnel or on a bridge … And a miracle that cost 42 victims *.

Slap from the European Commission

And if offended employees reported about the ongoing mess on the railway, union leadership, or upset and angry people, and we might not believe them. However, this is also evidenced by the document, according to which Greece was filed a lawsuit with the European Court on Railway Safety.

Only 2 weeks ago (!!!), February 15 Commission said in a letter: “Greece has not fulfilled its obligations under the directive on the creation of a single European railway area. “This directive indicates that Member States should have ensured that a contractual agreement between the national competent authority and the manager of the railway infrastructure is concluded no later than 16 June 2015 and published within one month. In fact, he emphasized in the clearest and most categorical way that “the conclusion and publication of this agreement is especially important for the transparency of upcoming projects in the railway infrastructure network.”

It is unimaginable that hundreds of human lives – passengers of Greek trains – depended on one … human error. It is also inconceivable to blame one manwhen tragic mistakes were made, hundreds of responsible persons who, do their job properlycould save the lives of passengers on the fatal train.

The only solution is… to take the keys to the trains and lay them up until all the measures, all the means that will bring the Greek railway back to normal have been implemented.

They will object to me, “This is a huge loss,” and I will answer, “And the life and health of the passengers of flight IC62” is cheaper?

*It is not yet known what missing and wounded.

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