Gaps and safety warnings ignored
Railway Regulatory Authority failed to respond to the writing on the wall, until it was too late
After the tragic accident in central Greece shortly before midnight Tuesday, the shortcomings and omissions of local train networks and the unheeded warnings are again coming to light.
For instance, in 2019 ERGOSE, the projects branch of Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), was ordered by the European Commission to return €2.4 million of funds due to problems in the signaling and telecommand project of the Athens-Thessaloniki-Promachonas railway, highlighting the long delays in the network upgrade projects.
Hellenic Train is often in the news for delays, poor services or even accidents that were avoided at the last minute.
At the same time, and despite the fact that complaints by railway employees’ associations about safety systems are numerous, the Railway Regulatory Authority (RAS) has never been seriously involved, limiting itself to a decorative role, highlighting that the shortcomings of the Greek railways are many and certainly not new.
In its latest annual safety report, RAS did not devote a word to the safety gaps and shortcomings of the Greek railway, which were for years highlighted by workers’ associations, and the ones that finally led to the tragic accident at Tempe. Tellingly, RAS President Ioanna Tsiaparikou told state broadcaster ERT on Thursday that “we are a body with many responsibilities, from market regulation and competition, to passenger rights and the National Safety Authority. But that does not mean what you understand from the title. It is about supervising compliance with procedures based on the existing systems and infrastructure that exist at the moment.”
A team of experts from the Safety and Interoperability Unit of RAS was at the scene of the accident on Wednesday, while on Thursday it was announced that RAS had launched an ex officio investigation, examining the proper implementation of safety management systems by OSE and Hellenic Train.
However, it is surprising that a similar probe wasn’t launched after the complaint by the Panhellenic Union of Railway Staff in November about the non-functioning of the light signals and automatic operations for many years, and the non-functioning of the European Train Control System, which protects against human error.
In a tragic irony, a month ago, a Transport Ministry draft law was passed in Parliament, establishing the National Agency for the Investigation of Aviation and Railway Accidents and Transport Safety.
