A month after a deadly train collision, Athens-Thessaloniki service will resume

A month after Greece’s deadliest train collision in Tempe that killed 57 people, state-run OSE announced on Thursday it would restart the Athens-Thessaloniki-Athens intercity passenger train services on April 3.

Shortly before midnight on February 28, the Intercity 62 train crashed head-on with a freight train coming in the opposite direction, killing 57 people. Three people have so far been charged in connection to the disaster, including an inexperienced stationmaster who mistakenly steered the two trains on the same track.

The decision to resume passenger services came after extended consultations between OSE, the company responsible for rail infrastructure, and Hellenic Train, who runs the service.

The head of the engine drivers’ union, Costas Genidounias, said on a social media post that OSE told the union in a letter on Wednesday that there will be a certified company employee inside the trains who will use the Global System for Mobile Communications-Railway (GSM-R) system “for emergency situations and not for traffic reasons as the system has not been licensed yet” when travelling through the tunnels at Tempe (where the deadly train collision happened) and Platamonas.

OSE will also restart freighter services in the Thessaloniki–Strymonas–Promachonas line on the same day, while on April 5, the Lianokladi–Stylida, Athens–Lianokladi and the Larissa-Volos itineraries will resume.

Two days earlier, on April 1, the Athens-Paleopharsalos service will resume along with the local service Paleopharsalos-Kalambaka.