“We are open and ready to cooperate with the Greek authorities at all levels upon request in order to provide support where needed.” This was stated today, on Monday, by Deputy Representative of the European Commission Dana Spinan during a press briefing in Brussels.

Dana Spinan reported that the Chairman of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen had a telephone conversation this morning with the Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis, during which the desire of both parties to cooperate in the field of modernizing and improving the safety of railway transport in Greece was discussed. In this context, a group of experts from the European Commission and the European Railway Agency (ERA) will travel to Athens within a week “to provide advice, expertise and support” on the modernization and safety of railways, “for example, the Greek government considers it necessary”, – said a spokesman for the Commission.

Asked if the Greek authorities “submitted a request to the European Railway Organization for support in the investigation of the tragic incident in Tempe,” another representative of the commission, Stefan de Kersmaeker, replied that this issue was indeed discussed during a telephone conversation. between the President of the Commission and the Prime Minister of Greece. “We are ready to help the Greek authorities in this, and a mission will be sent to Athens with experts from the ERA and the Commission,” he added.

For her part, Dana Spinan replied that the Commission was unable to provide details of any direct contact between the Greek authorities and the ERA. “What I can tell you is that in a telephone conversation between the chairman of the commission and the Prime Minister of Greece this morning, the idea of ​​​​a trip to Athens, along with ERA experts, was really discussed,” he stressed.

In addition, when asked to comment on the Commission’s approval of the postponement of the start-up of the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS) in Greece, Stéphane de Kersmaeker replied as follows:

“In May 2022, the Commission accepted a reasoned request from the Greek authorities to postpone the start of operation of ERTMS on three lines of the backbone network, namely:

• Acharnon-Gefyres line from 2020 to 2022,
• Tithorrhea-Acharnon line from 2020 to 2023,
• Line Domokos-Paleafarsalos-Thessaloniki – Bulgaria/Greece border (Kulata/Promachonas) from 2020 to 2023.

According to the information transmitted by the Greek authorities to the Commission services in January 2023, the European Traffic Signaling and Control System (ETCS) – level 1 – is under construction, with completion scheduled for 2023.

Stephan de Kersmaeker also mentioned that the problems associated with the management of railway projects have been recognized by the Greek authorities, who have agreed to implement a number of reforms in the coming years. He also added that Greece’s Recovery and Sustainability Plan includes an important milestone in the modernization of the rail network with full ERTMS functionality by the third quarter of 2023.

^{Source: RES-IPE}