Former transport ministers summoned House meeting
In the wake of the deadly train collision in northern Greece on February 28, three former ministers of infrastructure and transport (Michalis Chrysochoidis, Christos Spirtzis, Kostas Karamanlis) along with incumbent Giorgos Gerapetritis will attend Parliament’s Committee on Institutions and Transparency on Monday, which will convene following an initiative of ruling New Democracy’s parliamentary group.
Before the meeting was called, Karamanlis, who resigned after the crash, informed Parliament Speaker Kostas Tasoulas that he is at the committee’s disposal. The subject of the meeting is the progress and development of the projects linked to the contract for the automatic operation and signaling system on the Greek railway network.
Meanwhile it was announced on Tuesday that the country’s railways will gradually return to service on March 22. Passenger and freight services on the route linking Athens and the northern city of Thessaloniki, the busiest across a 2,500-kilometer rail network, have been halted since the train crash. The railway restart will unfold in five phases, with a five-day gap between each phase, Gerapetritis said.
On Tuesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said at a meeting with representatives of state-owned network owner Hellenic Railways (OSE) and railway infrastructure company ERGOSE that the restructuring of the country’s railways “is not just a universal demand of Greek society but is now also a personal matter for me.”
Also on Tuesday, an appellate-level examining magistrate summoned the three stationmasters linked to the train collision to testify on Friday.
It is widely believed their defense lawyers will seek a postponement to prepare their clients’ testimonies. All three have been charged with endangering transport safety and multiple counts of negligent homicide and bodily harm. The transport safety charge, a felony, potentially carries a life sentence.
