The tunnel of the Railway Network OSE in Tempi, central Greece, was flooded on Sunday when rainwater swept debris inside. Train traffic connecting Athens to Central and Northern Greece was disrupted and some trains had to stop even in the middle of the route or just before the tunnel, as eyewitnesses reported.
The problem apparently was caused by the significant problems caused by the torrential rain to the railway network on the Athens-Thessaloniki axis.
Flooded Tempi Tunnel via local media onlarissa.gr.
The Hellenic Train announced that today’s Intercity route will be operated by buses.
On Sunday afternoon, the bad weather also caused the interruption of railway services on the Larissa-Katerini line, due to the flood water in the Tempi station tunnel.
Special crews are at the scene to restore the railway line, remove the debris that caused the flood and try to channel the water, so that the railway can be put back into service.
The CEO of OSE, Panagiotis Terezakis, who visited the site on Monday said that “the ascent line in the Tempi tunnel will be opened to traffic by evening.” However, ANT1 TV reported around 7:30 p.m. that the restore works were halted..
Terezakis had furthermore explained that due to the bad weather, water and debris from the Olympus Mountain fell in large quantities into a technical tunnel above the Tempi tunnel, which as a result, at its southern end, was blocked by debris.
He also pointed out that the crews are working feverishly so that the ascent line will be opened to traffic by evening. In fact, he added that work will continue throughout the night in order to open the descent line to traffic as soon as possible.
Cleaning works continue since Tuesday morning and authorities announced that the trains operation will resume on Wednesday, December 3.
Thessaloniki-Athens in …13 hours!
Earlier on Sunday, passengers at the railway station of Thessaloniki were waiting for their train to Athens to depart at 5 p.m. At some point they heard an announcement that “There is a huge problem in the Tempi tunnel. It has flooded.”
Video:
This chilling message brought back painful memories from the tragedy that cost the lives of 57 people in February 2023, an eyewitness and passenger wrote in a report to documentonews.gr.
Passenger were waiting for two hours for authorities to decide what will happen, whether the Hellenic Train will either get permission or a ban on the rout to Athens.g for either permission from the Greek State Railways or a complete ban on passage.
At some point, the decision was taken: Passengers would be transferred by bus to Larissa and from there by train to Athens.
A route that would take much longer than the usual 3.5-4 hours one.
Το τρένο φτάνει επιτέλους στην Αθήνα 06:19 το ξημέρωμα.
13 ώρες και 9 λεπτά μετά την προγραμματισμένη ώρα αναχώρησης.Πεταγομασταν Βαρκελώνη και γυρνούσαμε.
Η απαξίωση του ελληνικού σιδηροδρόμου συνεχίζεται #τεμπη_έγκλημα #Τεμπη pic.twitter.com/ysNSwpUxXa— Chris Avramidis (@chris_avramidis) December 2, 2024
After 13 hours and 9 minutes, the exhausted passengers arrived in the Greek capital.
PS Of course, there would be trouble and delay when a railway tunnel is flooded. The real problem is, however, that the Railway network and the Hellenic Train operation have been downgraded after the tragedy in Tempi. And nobody seems to give a damn about it.
Of course, the OSE knew of the BORA warnings – even my kitties were aware of!-, of course, they could send crews to check whether all drainage pipes are clean and so on. They did not. Maybe the Climate Change had blinded them and they now know who to blame for any human negligence and indifference.
Do not even think for a second that Greece is alone with this. Even in Germany the railroad system is criminally neglected. Same for bridges even up to a recent collapse.
Why to spend on maintenance if everything works fine ? Until it doesn’t anymore…
correct!