Greek railways still have not addressed failings
Almost 19 months since the deadly train crash near the Vale of Tempe, in central Greece, that claimed 57 lives, Greece’s railways are still seriously underperforming.
The automated traffic control system is incomplete in several sections, two of which are in the Attica region where a head-on collision between two trains was averted by a hair earlier this month. In Thessaly, parts of the system, south of the city of Larissa, were washed away by the disastrous storms of September 23, 2023. Additionally, there is rampant theft of control system cables for their copper.
Lack of personnel at infrastructure operator OSE has resulted in subpar maintenance of the network, train operator Hellenic Train says. OSE, on its part, accuses Hellenic Train of inadequate maintenance of the rolling stock.
As a result, the four daily trains running between Athens and Thessaloniki are only 30% to 50% full.
