Larissa station master was new to the job

V.S., 59, became a station master in one of the Greek railway network’s most important railway station’s Larissa, after a short training program that started in August 2022 and ended in January.

Just 35 days into his new job, the disastrous railway crash, the deadliest in Greece’s history, happened in Tempe, with him largely responsible for the decisions taken at the moment.

On Saturday afternoon, he will appear before a magistrate in Larissa to answer multiplecharges of negligent homicide and injury.

V.S. was hired by Hellenic Railways in February 1989. In Spring 2011, with Greece already deep into the financial crisis and mandated by its creditors to cut personnel in several state agencies, including the railways, he asked for a transfer to another state agency, making use of a just voted law on personnel mobility.

His application was submitted on April 27, 2011. Five days later, on May 2, he was transferred to a desk job at the Ministry of Education’s Primary Education Division in Larissa, which oversees the regional unit’s kindergartens and primary schools. Maybe the fact that his wife is a primary school teacher in Larissa influenced his decision to join this particular agency.

Eleven years later, in April 2022, he asked to be transferred back to Hellenic Railways. The company, short on personnel, had wanted to hire 18 station masters, again through the personnel mobility system.

V.S. was accepted into the station master trainee program in June. Eight more civil servants were transferred to Hellenic Railways; one more to be trained as a station master and the rest in technical and administrative support positions. For transferred personnel, the maximum age of 42 for hirings in Hellenic Railways is waived.

Station master training started in August with theory lessons, completed on October 22. In the practical training phase, V.S. was posted in all five stations of the Larissa administrative region, or “inspectorate” in company parlance and duly completed training on January 23; he noted this in a Facebook post.

Again, he was posted in all inspectorate stations before returning to Larissa a few days before the fatal accident.

When arrested, he initially denied responsibility in a preliminary hearing before acknowledging it; on Saturday, at 2 p.m. he is set to fave the examining magistrate and a prosecutor.