Greece’s trains workers have announced the launching of a work stoppage and a 24-hour strike demanding transport safety on the railway network.
The unions of Proastiakos and Hellenic Train workers (SEP TRAINOSE and PEP TRAINOSE) will lauanch a 24-hour strike on upcoming Thursday, September 26, 2024.
A work stoppage is scheduled for Proastiakos suburban trains for tomorrow Tuesday, September 24. The work stoppage starts at 6 p.m. and end at Tuesday midnight.
Workers unions demand, among others, immediate hiring of more personnel, replacement of rolling stock with modern tracks similar to European railways as well as completion of infrastructure projects and transport safety on the railway network.
With their announcement about the strike, the train workers pointed out that “the tragic accident in Tempi – end of February 2023 -, where 11 of our colleagues were among the 57 people who lost their lives, highlighted the perennial problems that we railway workers face and the abandonment by the side of the state.”
They added that “the Hellenic Train unions four months ago submitted a series of proposals for the safety of staff and passengers and suspended the mobilizations we had announced to give time to the new management to deal with them.”
However, “despite the management stating that safety would be first in their priorities, despite their assurances of immediate, medium and long-term interventions, the problems remain here and make it difficult for our colleagues to work smoothly and safely.”
Note that the Metro and the urban train ISAP (Piraeus-Kifissia) will operate as usual during the work stoppage and the 24h strike, as they belong to a different management company with different workers unions.
For more information check withe the Hellenic Train website.
Trains and Proastiakos have been often subjects to operation failures even one and a half year after the deadly train crash in Tempi, central Greece.As the system is seriously under-performing.
The automated traffic control system is incomplete in several sections, two of which are in the Attica region where a head-on collision between two trains was averted by a hair earlier this month. In Thessaly, parts of the system, south of the city of Larissa, were washed away by the disastrous storms of September 23, 2023. Additionally, there is rampant theft of control system cables for their copper.
Lack of personnel at infrastructure operator OSE has resulted in subpar maintenance of the network, train operator Hellenic Train says. OSE, on its part, accuses Hellenic Train of inadequate maintenance of the rolling stock.
As a result, the four daily trains running between Athens and Thessaloniki are only 30% to 50% full, daily kathimerini reported.
