His inspector made the first statement operating environmentin respect of which a criminal case was initiated on the fact of a railway accident in the city of Tempe.

As he reports through his lawyer, Ioannis Glykas, until now he has not made any statements “as a sign of minimal respect for the victims and their families, whose pain is unbearable.”

In his statement, he points out, among other things: “Numerous mistakes, leaving posts on duty by two station masters and inconsistent adherence to the schedule, untimely and forced to inform absent train drivers about the entrance to the descent line while simultaneously not notifying the competent station master in any way, in combination with the incompleteness of the installation of the remote control system and signal work, constitute the scene of a tragic incident.

Full statement

“Undoubtedly, the choice of this day of silence is made as a minimal sign of respect for the victims and their families, whose pain is unbearable.

However, my presumption of innocence must be respected, as well as my right to a fair trial, and I place myself before the authorities, being at their disposal at any time and at any moment. After all, from the first moment, that is, on 03/03/2023 after a phone call, at about 13:00, I voluntarily appeared at the 3rd Investigation Department of the First Instances of Larisa, presenting the relevant documents for information and testifying for four (4 hours.

Regarding the train accident in Tempi, which occurred on February 28, 2023 near the village of Evangelismos Tempi Larisa and led to a head-on collision between a Hellenic Train passenger train and a commercial train:

The OSE administration hired locksmiths in May 2022, and in August began hiring seventy-eight (78) station masters with a service card, of which thirteen (13) were located in Larisa.

In this case, the following should be clarified to clarify the responsibilities of the above persons.

On the one hand, the mechanic, as a working position on the railway, has as his main task to help the stationmaster, following the orders of the latter. In the event of any malfunction in the automatic system or if necessary, the locksmith will manually change the keys at the command of the station master. It should be emphasized that until 2019, the remote control functioned on the Larisa-Paleofarsalo-Katerinis section, however, due to a fire, it was disabled until today.

On the other hand, station managers, through theoretical and practical training, receive appropriate certificates from the Organization to assume their duties.

Based on the internal protocols of the OSB, the training process for station managers includes a total of 716 hours of theoretical and practical training. Of these, 524 hours are theoretical training, and the remaining 192 hours are theoretical along with practical training.

To clarify, the status of the Inspector does not play any role in the training described above, since we do not participate in it. All employees are considered equal and competent in the performance of their assigned duties. Even in the case of recruits, there is no special treatment. It is noteworthy that all the Inspectorates of the network (from Patras to Alexandroupolis) entrusted certified station chiefs with their main duties at all stations, in traveling work.

Finally, the employee attendance sheet is reported to the competent Road Traffic Administration as well as to the competent Human Resources Administration one month in advance, drawn up by the respective inspectorate. This way, everyone knew about the workers who would be placed on any shift at any moment!

At the same time, on February 28, 2023, I was at the station. Hair all day due to official needs. Between 23:40 and 23:55 I am first informed that trains 62 and 80563 are not running! At the same time, it is emphasized that on a normal route – without delays, train 62 was supposed to leave Larisa station on November 22, where 3 station chiefs were on schedule during the period of 22.00-23.00.

After taking all the necessary steps, I called the appropriate masters of the station, as I should have. At 23:55 a collision of the upper trains was confirmed. At about 00:10 I am now going out to fetch the secretary to the scene of the collision. When we arrived at the scene, and after I realized what had happened, I reported this to Mr. Director, accurately indicating the extent of the disaster.

Multiple mistakes, leaving the place on duty by two station masters and inconsistent adherence to the schedule, untimely and forced notification by absent drivers about entering the descent path while simultaneously not informing them in any way by the competent station master, combined with a delay in completing the installation of the remote control system and signaling works constitute the scene of a tragic incident.