“If she worked ECTS signaling, a hypothetical terrorist stationmaster who wanted to crash two trains but couldn’t.” Sources inside HAVE WORKED demonstrate huge delays in its completion contract 717 a decisive factor in reducing the safety of the railway network. In the documents that came into the possession of “K” From the internal correspondence of the company, problems were recorded that were repeatedly reported to the leaders of the project “Reconstruction and modernization of the signaling system – remote control and replacement of 70 track changes on the identified sections of the Athens – Thessaloniki – Promakhona axis.”

His letter Christou Katsiuliswho in 2022 is stepping down as chairman of the ETCS 10005 contract, citing safety concerns that turned out to be prescient, was widely publicized hours after the Tempe crash. Today “K” reveals the document the same man, who at that time worked as an assistant chief under contract 717, allegedly indicated, among other things, unjustified delays during the implementation of a physical facility, its modifications, incomplete studies by one of the two companies of the consortium that took over the southern part of the network (Athens – Plata), as well as work without approved studies.

Ten Highlights

The list of 10 items related to safety and cost issues during the implementation of the facility, among other things, includes the introduction of unapproved materials into the project, non-compliance with specifications, obsolescence of the withdrawn signaling equipment, while indicating that the studies that were at the disposal of ERGOSE in February 2016 , do not have the signature of a loan provider of experience, are non-functional, insufficient and unsafe. In the same document, the then Assistant Chief of Contract 717 indicates that the approval of the studies at the Aharnes-Oinoy site two weeks after the end of the 6th exceptional period on August 7, 2015 was done only to facilitate ERGOSE in managing the extension of the sixth exceptional period. According to ERGOSE employees, whose data are at the disposal of “K”, there was no response to Mr. Katsiulis’s internal complaints. He was removed from his duties and resumed a leadership role in the project only with a change in ERGOSE leadership until his resignation in April 2022. The European Train Control System (ECTS) provides safety barriers in the event of an accident, with the ability to avert a potentially impending conflict in time. But while the system is being installed normally, today it cannot work in most of the network, as the traffic lights do not work. Since 2014, the photo-alarm system has been in the process of being withdrawn under contract 717, and according to those in the know, it is unlikely to be completed during this year, as this is provided for by the new deadline. In original the message that “K” hadBoth the management of ERGOSE and TOMI, one of the two companies in the consortium that specifically took on the southern part of the network (Athens-Platy), experienced delays, but they were mainly due to bureaucratic obstacles.

“Additional agreement”

However, the section of the network where the accident occurred on the night of February 28 remains unfinished to this day, because, according to the former TOMI project leader, “there was a point that was not covered by the original contract. To complete it, it was necessary to sign an additional contract, which dragged on and was signed only in 2021.”

Unforeseen problems, as well as the fact that the project had to be carried out in traffic conditions, led, according to the authorities, to delays that should have cost the lives of at least 57 people.