“White Arrow”: Passengers of Greece’s fastest train stranded in the fields

Stuck on the #Proastiakos suburban train at Agioi Anagyroi station. There's no power. Train halted for over 20 minutes now. No lights in train. And no one knows anything. Driver says he cannot reach anyone. Bravo, @HellenicTrain pic.twitter.com/aTqodLVxbu

— Damian Mac Con Uladh (@damomac) July 28, 2022

Another train that was sent to pick up the passengers could not as the electricity on the whole railway track was off.

Από πού να αρχίσω. Κατέρρευσε από την πολλή επιτυχία το ελληνικό Shinkansen, «Λευκό Βέλος», αλλά και όλη η ηλεκτροκίνηση της γραμμής οπότε και το άλλο τρένο που ξεκίνησε να τους παραλάβει, έμεινε. Ξέρετε, σε αυτή ΤΗ ΜΙΑ ΚΑΙ ΜΟΝΟ γραμμή.
Φιλάκια. https://t.co/Mi36mulNRA

— Irene Kostaki (@ikostaki) July 28, 2022

The private company Hellenic Train issued a statement apologizing for the inconvenience, stressing, however, that it is not responsible as the damage was related to the infrastructure.

According to state broadcaster ERT, the Whiter Arrow departed Athens for Thessaloniki at 5:20 Thursday afternoon and sopped at Dekelia 40 minutes later and just 22 km way.

Its passengers were stranded under conditions of unbearable heat. The train A/C was not working since the train was stopped.  They did not receive any information by officials about what exactly had happened.

At the same time, hundreds of other passengers who were waiting to depart with routes from Larissis Station were also in trouble as the electricity in the railway network was reportedly gone down.

The Hellenic Train said in a statement that it was not responsible for the passengers’ inconvenience, since the damage, a power outage, was related to the infrastructure.

“This afternoon a power outage in the infrastructure resulted in serious problems in the traffic of trains moving from Larissa Station to Thessaloniki and Halkida,” the HellTrain said adding that passengers had been transferred to their final destination by buses.”

The company said further that “all have been reimbursed for the ticket money they had purchased.”

However, passengers revealed on social media that when they asked for refund at the main station in Atens they were told by employees that they had no money available for refund.

Η ανακοίνωση σας αναφέρει ότι αποζημιώθηκαν όλοι οι επιβάτες. Είναι ψευδές . Οι υπάλληλοι του σταθμού Λαρίσης ισχυρίζονταν ότι δεν έχουν χρήματα και ότι οι αποζημιώσεις θα γίνουν αυτόματα για τα ηλεκτρονικά εισιτήρια.

— Vassilis Papadolias (@vpapadolias) July 29, 2022

Others posted on Twitter that a similar incident happened 1.5 month ago, adding that he was still waiting for a response to his e-mail.

Πέρασε 1,5 μήνας από ανάλογο περιστατικό όταν και σας έστειλα ημεηλ αλλά ακόμα δεν καταδεχθήκατε να μου απαντήσετε..@HellenicTrain https://t.co/K9YMQSpRu2

— Nikos Michailidis (@NikosMichailid4) July 29, 2022

Angry passengers who were transferred back to Athens, complained about the lack of information by only one employee, no announcements via the megaphones and that there was refund only for the ticket price they paid but no refund for those who missed connections for further traveling by ship, airplane, bus or whatever.

Στο δε αίτημα όσων είχαν δουλειές, άλλες ανταποκρίσεις με πλοία, αεροπλάνα κ.λπ., η απάντηση ήταν απλά "λυπόμαστε, χάσατε". (Εγώ έπρεπε να βρίσκομαι σε μία κηδεία αύριο το πρωί, αλλά αυτά τα ηθικοσυναισθηματικά είναι λεπτομέρειες). 6/10

— Danai Koltsida (@DanaiKoltsida) July 28, 2022

The only official reaction so far, has been by the Railways Regulator who posted about the passengers’ rights.

The Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure remains silent still 24 hours later.

what is highly interesting is that newspaper ethnos.gr reported very late on Thursday that “Hellenic Train sources pointed out that they still (10 p.m.) did not know what the problem was with the White Arrow, although they suspect that the contact line “bellied” and the train pantograph probably broke.”

The train came to a standstill and the 130 or so passengers were forced to head into the fields in search of some shade as the air conditioning was not working on the stalled train either.

“This is at least the third time that one of these trains has broken down,” noted ethnos.

Note that the White Arrow started operation on May 15, 2022, with the usual Greek fanfare.

PS “This must be certainly the nightmare of privatizations: the high standard of customer service,” said my kitty.