Notorious problems in Greece’s infrastructure and service that the government is not willing to fix? No problem! There is always a quick solution! The establishment of a special police corps to fix things in the traditional way.
Following a series of incidents in the railway network, the administration of the Hellenic Railways (OSE) proposed “measures to consolidate the safety of the rail network’s routes and infrastructure, including the establishment of a railway police, along the lines of other European states.”
Speaking to state-run news agency amna on Monday morning, OSE president Yanos Grammatidis reportedly said among others and regarding the current issue of railway safety: “The aim is to create a new security body, representatives of which will participate in the operations center of the OSE that operates on a 24-hour basis to deal with emergencies.”
Hours later, OSE announced also the creation of a new department to deal with trees and greens along the railway tracks.
Last Friday, the collision of two Proastiakos urban trains was averted literally in the last minute, when one of the drivers and a station master realized that the trains were on the same track. The incident occurred within the city of Athens, in the section Agioi Anargyroi – Athens, very close to the central train station Larissis.
According to athenstransport.com, the incident happened shortly after 9 am, when two trains, one running the Piraeus – Airport route and one running the Kiato – Piraeus route, received orders within a few minutes from different station masters to move from opposite directions on a single track. Especially dangerous was the order given by the SKA station master to the train moving towards Piraeus.
Mega TV reported that another person -qualified or not is not known – was replacing the station master for a few minutes.
“This is a section of the line (essentially from Piraeus to Agios Anargyros) which does not have remote control,” the Athens transport news website stressed.
It should be recalled that one and a half year after the tragedy of Tempi where 57 people lost their lives in the collision of a passenger train with a cargo one, nothing has been done, so far, for the passengers’ safety.
A day later, a train in Afithnes, East Attica, collided with a …tree (!) that had fallen on the track. Media reported that the train had just come out of a turn and had no time to stop when he saw the tree.
Heavy tree branches entered the driver’s cabin and it was a miracle that the man sustained no injuries.
The problem was “solved” in the traditional Greek blame-game where nobody has responsibility: OSE said that it was not its duty to clean the trees, while the Infrastructure Ministry responded that OSE has to submit a request of the cleaning of a certain area.
It is the second known incident of a train-tree collision in 2024.
A week earlier, the doors of a train near Athens trapped a disembarking passenger dragging the woman 50 meters on the station platform.
I have no idea, how train police could prohibit these incidents. Beat train stations masters, drivers and disembarking passengers?
Maybe, you have some clue?
“It should be recalled that one and a half year after the tragedy of Tempi where 57 people lost their lives in the collision of a passenger train with a cargo one, nothing has been done, so far, for the passengers’ safety.”
Yes, that big cover up continues.
Why doesn’t the government of Greece train people to do the job properly , regardless of the task. Then pay them properly and the infrastructure of the country may stop falling apart.
No need to do that , just put another layer of management in place or a new police force who couldn’t spot defective infrastructure if it fell on there head.
Clearly a country full of over educated retailers and a bloated middle management sector, overseeing under qualified cowboys.