More than three weeks after the deadliest train disaster in Greek history, the first trains in that country started running again on Wednesday. Since the accident on February 28, train traffic across the country has come to a standstill because railway workers have laid off work en masse.
In the near future, trains will only be running on a small part of the Greek rail network. In addition, extra train and station personnel have been deployed. At a number of points where the chance of a collision is greater than at other places, drivers are obliged to reduce speed.
The first train departed from Athens to the town of Inoi at 4:45 am on Wednesday. Train services from Athens to the international airport have also resumed.
The full timetable will be resumed from April 11. Trains will run again between Athens and Thessaloniki. The head-on collision between the passenger train and the freight train occurred on that section.
Rail had been deficient for years
The accident happened just before midnight near the town of Larissa. Larissa’s station master admitted that he had mistakenly allowed the passenger train and freight train to run on the same track. He was poorly trained. The man is currently in custody on suspicion of wrongful death.
Greek railway unions warned before the accident about the poor state of the rail network. The Greek newspaper Kathimerini revealed a few days after the disaster that an automatic protection system that could have stopped the trains had been broken for years.
The train collision killed 57 people. Of the dozens of passengers who were injured, nine are still in the hospital.
