Train accident in Greece – What you know about the Greek train accident – and what you don’t – News

What happened? On the route between Athens and the northern port city of Thessaloniki, there was a serious train accident on Wednesday night. A Hellenic Train passenger train from Athens collided head-on with a freight train from Thessaloniki. A total of 354 people are said to have been affected by the accident: 342 passengers and ten railway employees in the passenger train and two train drivers in the freight train. A fire also broke out during the accident, many people were burned.

Legend:

Four carriages of the passenger train derailed in the accident.

REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

According to the fire department, at least 36 people died in the accident and more than 80 were injured. It cannot be ruled out that the number of victims will increase further, as the search and rescue operation continues hours after the accident. Parts of the Greek army were also on site. “We do not yet know the exact number of victims,” ​​said Greek Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis through tears.

How did the accident happen? The two trains approached each other on the same track, the governor of the Thessaly region, Konstantinos Agorastos, said on SKAI TV. The first four cars of the passenger train derailed. There are fears that the accident is due to human error. According to media reports, the electronic control system also did not work.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (middle, facing the camera) immediately traveled to the scene of the accident.

Legend:

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis (middle, facing the camera) immediately traveled to the scene of the accident.

REUTERS/Alexandros Avramidis

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at the scene of the accident that it was an unbelievable tragedy. He emphasized: “One thing I can guarantee, we will find the cause and do everything in our power to ensure that something like this never happens again.”

Greek government orders three days of national mourning


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The Greek government has ordered a three-day state mourning in response to the serious train accident, and flags are currently flying at half-mast in honor of the victims. Many states also expressed their condolences. Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu spoke to his Greek counterpart Nikos Dendias on the phone. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote on Twitter that all of Europe mourns with Greece.

The accident was the worst train accident in the history of the country, said the railway workers’ union. According to the public broadcaster ERT, many more deaths are feared. The majority of the victims can only be identified by means of DNA analysis. The emergency department of the hospital in Larisa said many young people were among the dead. It is believed that there were many students on the train returning after a long holiday weekend.

According to the dpa news agency, the railwayman responsible for the section has already been arrested. Other employees and technicians would also be questioned, it said. The traffic authority of the nearby city of Larisa has started investigations into the cause of the accident. Many connecting railway lines were closed to train traffic for the time being.

Who is Hellenic Train? With around 1200 employees, Hellenic Train is the railway company that operates the train services on the Greek Railways network. The company is a subsidiary of the Italian state railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, which the Greek company bought for 45 million euros in 2017. At that time, Hellenic Train was still called TrainOSE.

Outdated railway system


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According to the Greek train drivers’ union, there have long been major problems along the approximately 500-kilometer route between Athens and Thessaloniki. This leads to considerable complications in the electronic coordination of traffic problems. “Like in the old days, we drive from one section of the route to the other by radio. The station managers give us the green light,” said Kostas Genidounias, president of the train drivers’ union.

As news agencies also report, the railway system in Greece is outdated and needs to be modernized. Many routes are also single-track, and automatic control systems are often missing.

How did the takeover come about? The Greek debt crisis, which began around 13 years ago, played a role in this development. At that time the country was practically bankrupt, so part of the state infrastructure was sold. In this context, the Greek railways were spun off into a development fund in 2013 as a first step. Even if the takeover was finally completed, it is currently not clear who is responsible for the accident.

How often do such train accidents happen in Europe? Accidents of this magnitude on European rail transport are rather rare; but they do occur. In November 2015, for example, a TGV derailed during a test drive on what was then a new train route north of Strasbourg. At least eleven people were killed.

A few months later, twelve people died in the German state of Bavaria; On a single-track line between Rosenheim and Holzkirchen, two passenger trains had collided head-on in Bad Aibling. Over 80 people were injured, many seriously. Probably the most tragic accident in Europe in recent years occurred in Spain in the summer of 2013. A high-speed train took a curve too quickly just before the train station in the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela and derailed. 80 people died and 144 were injured.

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