How many words does it take to send a distress signal? His latest annual safety report Railway Regulatory Authority (RAS) contains 13,000 words, but does not devote a single one to its monstrous pathologies. Greek Railwaysthose that were loudly denounced by the workers’ associations for years, those that finally led to the tragic accident at Tempe.

But it seems that the words do not matter – or for everyone they mean something different. Although, for example, the aforementioned Independent Administrative Authority (established under Law 3891/2010 with the main purpose of supporting the opening of the rail market to competition) is, among other things, the National Rail Safety Authority, this does not mean what the majority understands from U.S. As the President of the Russian Academy of Sciences said yesterday, Joanna Tsiapariku, speaking of the First ERT Program, “We are a body with many responsibilities, from regulating the market and competition, protecting the rights of passengers and the Office of Homeland Security. This, however, does not mean what you understand from the title. It is about monitoring compliance with procedures based on the existing systems and infrastructure that exist at the moment (…) We must observe, make sure that the railway undertakings and the infrastructure manager comply with what is described in his safety management plan, based on existing systems. That is, “what procedure is followed in this particular case”? Thus, the stationmaster gives the order to the train driver. We are not looking at anything else. Advisory, in our public statements or in our proposals to agencies, we can say that “of course, systems must be automated, and projects and contracts that are in progress must be completed.”

Railway workers’ union complaints about safety systems that have been out of order for years have never been seriously investigated.

Incompetent at Tempe

Despite the incompetence, the day before yesterday a group of specialists from the Department of Safety and Interoperability of the Russian Academy of Sciences was at the site of a serious railway accident, and yesterday it was announced that the Railway Transport Administration had launched an official investigation into the railway accident. , verification of the correct implementation of security management systems operating environment And Hellenic Train AE Railway Company (Safety management systems record the procedures to be applied by railway undertakings and OSEs, based on national and European railway legislation, to ensure that all safety regulations and requirements are met). The question arises why the competent authority did not start an appropriate investigation after the November very serious complaint of the Panhellenic Tractor Union, also formulated out of court against the PAS, about “the non-functioning of traffic lights and remote control for many years, the inoperability of the ETCS system (protecting against human error)”.

From Latest Safety Report (2020) RAS, however, the news comes out: The Committee for the Investigation of Railway Accidents and Accidents, which was created in accordance with article 2 of Law 4313/2014 (Α΄ 261), has not yet been activated. In a tragic irony or coincidence, a bill from the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport was passed in Parliament a month ago, which would merge the two Air Accident Investigation Commissions (airline and rail) and create a new National Air and Rail Accident Investigation Organization. and transport security. To reduce bureaucracy and increase efficiency…