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.
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 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.”
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.
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.