From 2006 to the present day, the operation of modern signaling systems – remote control, train safety and radio communicationswhile nothing works. Three projects have been completed and one continues to receive renewals (seven so far and the number continues to grow). We are unraveling the “crazy course” of delays and omissions that, after so many years, has left us stuck in the epicenter of train safety.

In recent decades, the European Union has advocated the creation of a unified security system, ERTMS (European Rail Traffic Management System). It consists of two subsystems: train control system (European Traffic Control System, ETCS) And radio coverage system (GSM-R). But for ETCS to work, there must be a functioning alarm and remote control system. This system worked on most of the core network and was built under various contracts (the Ministry of Infrastructure says there are 15 of them).

Without maintenance

contracts but they concerned its construction, not maintenance. Thus, when the first problems began in the late 2000s, which were exacerbated by the financial crisis, the system began to crumble. In 2014, ERGOSE ordered (TOMI-Alstom joint venture) a restructuring, i.e. renovation of the existing network (Athens – Thessaloniki – Promakhona) with the aim of completing it by 2016.

This contract is still not completed, and its budget has increased from 41 million euros to 51.2 million euros. And all because since 2016 the project began to receive extensions: 4 days for SYRIZA and 3 days for New Democracy (it is going to get another one, until September of this year). As it turned out, the two companies split the project (between themselves): TOMI took over the site to Plati (where Bombardier’s systems used to exist), and Alstom from Plati to Promakhona (where its own systems used to exist). . However, the two companies clashed along the way, with the result that Alstom did not certify the research and work of the TOMIS department, and the project showed little progress. ERGOSE, instead of declaring the consortium bankrupt, began granting deferrals until the project came to a complete halt around 2017. The European Union and the Financial Control Committee intervened in the matter, demanding 2.4 million euros from ERGOSE.

Equipment replacement

And although ERGOSE rejected any discussion of replacing existing equipment, finally, in 2021 (after two years of inactivity), it was decided to sign an additional contract with the consortium for 13.3 million euros, which also included the replacement of equipment at the Oinoi-Titorea section, which the state already paid for the repair. At the same time, according to an internal agreement between TOMIS and Alstom, the former transferred its second construction object, remaining in the joint venture scheme. At the end of the same year, Alstom handed over the remote control system to the site that it took over alone (from Platy to Promachona). In May 2022, the remote control was also delivered to the Titora-Domokos site, built under a different contract with Siemens. As for the main project, according to the Ministry of Infrastructure, it currently accounts for 69% and will be commissioned by September this year.

Vacancies under consideration

Long before ERGOSE was awarded the contract to dismantle the signaling system, in 2007 the company ordered the installation of an ETCS system on the main railway line at a cost of 17.2 million euros. According to ERGOSE, the project was commissioned in 2020. At the same time, the second contract worth 21.3 million euros, the ETCS system was installed on trains in 2007-2015. However, ETCS requires the operation of the alarm system and remote control. So the system remains inactive and it is not known if it is supported in any way.

Finally, OSE allocated 56.8 million euros for the installation of the GMS-R radio coverage system on the Kiato-Athens-Thessaloniki-Promakhona axis (and some branches). The project started in 2006 and was completed in 2017. However, it has not yet been specified whether the system is operational, since until the fall of 2022, OSE and Hellenic Train did not agree on a start date for testing. Meanwhile, in 2019, ERGOSE signed a €7m contract with another company to maintain a system that appears to be down.

“There are obligations to contractors”

ERGOSE was about to declare bankruptcy of the TOMIS-Alstom joint venture when problems began in the Signaling – Remote Control project. This was supported yesterday by Michalis Dachtylides, President of the Panhellenic Association of Public Works Contractor Engineers (PEDMEDE). “Of course, there are obligations to contractors. For them, the inability to certify any study for many years means that the studies were of poor quality. But why didn’t ERGOS declare them free? When a project is not going well, you should stop it and continue with a new contractor. I assume that ERGOSE did not do this, so as not to start the process from the beginning, with measurements of the project built before this, legal disputes, and so on. There were probably other factors – for example, there was no other company in these projects except Alstom, and ERGOSE had to “swallow” the difficulties. There may have been internal games that we will never know about. In these cases, various intermediaries appear, each trying to promote their own system, and depending on political support, they succeed or not.”