Assurance that the investigation Tempe disaster will be brought to an end, the state minister said in the context of information about the facts of the tragedy at the moment, George Herapetritis.

Speaking from the podium Production and Trade Committee of the Parliamentsaid the meeting actually opened cycle of parliamentary debates around the railway problems, which have become aggravated in the most painful way.

“This field not susceptible to political confrontation, as it would be an insult to the memory of the dead. I will try to objectively state the facts, I will not make any offsets. The initiated investigation will be brought to an end, this is the government’s intention. It will be held quickly, as will the commission of experts, which, I hope, will be able to provide an opinion on the causes of the tragedy within a month from today,” he stressed.

He added that “administration changed“, and the announcement is expected next week international competition “For the Office to be constantly staffed with people who can lead organizations out of a difficult situation and plan a strategy for the coming years.”

He then referred to error sequence: “Although the control panel was working at full capacity in the department and it was required to plot the route electronically, manuallydid not follow the course of the train, and there was no information from the train that it was outside the normal track.

“However, no human error can hide imperfections and become an excuse for transgressions, delays and mistakes,” he stressed.

“Was take responsibility from the first moment. I also apologized, but this cannot restore what happened, the unthinkable. After the event mass disaster protocol to coordinate all the structures and it worked at the level at which the conditions allowed,” he added.

Referring to his problem staffhe stressed: “Gradual deforestation has indeed taken place.”

“Either there were no calls, or there were very few of them. They tried to cure either through mobility, or through a service card – there was a good, but not sufficient staffing – they hired about 200 people with a pillow, these contracts are being extended. And on the third level, which is constant recruitment. The first competition for 90 people, the process was going through ASEP, about 10,500 applications were submitted, now it is in the EfE, the process will be completed soon. A new recruitment opportunity will be recruited from the same list in 2023. In total, 217 people will be hired in the next period.”

As regards the question of infrastructure, noted that the problem of updating “has a long and difficult history. The modernization contract, signed in 2014, includes a complete modernization of all traffic lights at 52 stations, as well as remote control and modernization of 3 stations. Only three countries in Europe have a complete electronic monitoring system. Unfortunately, our country will acquire such a system with a delay. No one can say what would have happened, but it can reasonably be said that we would have avoided the tragedy.”

He concluded by stating that “need to restart the railroad“, both for the railroad itself and its infrastructure, and for citizens’ trust in the environment. “I will be on the commission next week to provide additional resources for safety, infrastructure, operations, staffing. Nothing can bring back the victims, and no the consolation is that our trains will soon be safer and we will do our best to make sure this never happens again,” he said.

Mr Gerapetritis emphasized that “there have been pathologies accompanying public projects, whereby the human hand is much more important than electronic means of surveillance. By September, when the entire project is completed, the operational framework will be tighter, which means more staff at critical posts, reduced routes to ensure their control, lower train speeds, faster completion of recruitment processes, more drivers and maintenance personnel. participants, network police for theft and vandalism. Not only the theft of railway equipment will become a criminal offense, but also the acceptance of theft“.

Nikos Pappas: Why did this tragedy happen?

SYRIZA MP Nikos Pappas said he agrees with Mr. Gerapetritis that the accident cannot be a reason to aggravate relations between political forces.

“But let’s not send messages that we won’t do everything to avoid the cover-up when people are on the street. We are invited to discuss in detail the chronic pathologies of the railway, but first of all we will discuss why this tragedy happened,” he stressed.