OUR European Railway Agency warned governments in Hellasas well as her Commissionat least since 2014 Security breaches on Greek railways. So he was placed on “K” questions the organization’s executive director, Josef Doppelbauer, who cites reports that highlight the shortcomings of the Greek system compared to rest of Europe. However, he hesitates to tie her directly. tragedy in Tempe with years of delays in upgrading the network, pending the completion of an investigation into the exact causes of the crash.

“Over the years, we have addressed various aspects of this issue. We have a legal obligation to prepare a European level report every two years based on the information we receive from member countries. We have published rankings based on the statistics of accidents on the railways of the member states. For many years, Greece has been among the countries with high mortality. This fact is always a reminder that there are open issues to be resolved within the Greek system. In addition, we carry out audits by the Railway Regulatory Authority (RAS) within our competence. In this regard, we identified a number of shortcomings and made a number of comments. We shared them with the Greek authorities, who responded with an action plan that needs to be implemented. We have also expressed concern about the existence of an official rail accident investigation body. These are basically the observations we have made regarding the position of the Greek railway. I refer you to our reports which highlight the shortcomings of the Greek railway system compared to other European countries.” Mr. Doppelbauer reports to “K”., was asked to list the ways in which the European Rail Agency (ERA) controlled the Greek network. Asked to indicate the period of time during which he sent warnings to the Greek and European authorities, he clarifies: “At least since 2014. And we repeat these exhibitions every two years.”

The Executive Director of the European Railway Agency emphasizes that safety deficiencies in Greece have been repeatedly pointed out.

Control system

The main unresolved issue in the Greek railway network is its implementation. European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), which Greece has pledged to deliver by the end of 2023 for the second year. The key question is whether the accident at Tempe could have been avoided if the modern system had already been active on the day of the tragedy. “At the moment, the investigation is still ongoing. While we still do not have clear indications of the roots and additional causes of the accident, everything we say will be assumptions. Of course, at the European level, we are talking about the introduction of such systems in order to limit the space for human error. But until we have clear indications of what happened, we cannot say for sure what the result would have been if we had the system in place,” notes the head of the European Railway Agency, who for the next steps will focus on completing the investigation through the result of which will be the directions of “strengthening the Greek railway and strengthening the role and responsibility of all participants.”

On dangerous tracks

Total deaths per million rail kilometers