A long train whistle, a symbolic movement in memory of his 57 victims. railway accident, looks like a call to the few passengers to turn their eyes to the windows on the left side. OUR train coming out of the tunnel, right in front of her tempe valley. We are moving in an ascending line, the speed has noticeably decreased. A small stone church now stands at the point of impact, seven bouquets of flowers stuck in the wire fence catch a glimpse of the eye. The train was on the tracks again, frozen.

In the schedule announced by the government, the morning pair of trains were supposed to run on April 1 along the axis Athens – Thessaloniki. As a result, the start of this route was postponed for two days. In the letter, the machinists asked to solve problems to run routes, including a written certificate for the passage of tunnels in Tempi and Platamonas, where problems were identified by the fire department, as well as the possibility of communication inside the kitchen with a certified system.

ghostly dreams

OUR Pantelis Eugenides, a traffic controller and driving instructor from Larissa, was found a few minutes after midnight at the scene of an accident on 28 February. When he arrived, he could still see wounded people emerging from the rubble. He then stayed in the field for 19 straight hours. “For the first two weeks I tossed and turned in my sleep, I couldn’t sleep. I’m still trying to figure out how it happened.” says “K”.

Since then, he has been passing by this place, accompanying the drivers of other trains. He joined the first commercial trains running on the axis after an accident a few days ago, and yesterday he traveled on both passenger trains. First, he boarded the Intercity 55 train, which went from Thessaloniki and followed the Katerini-Lianoklady route. From there, he switched to Intercity 52, so that he and the drivers could drive back. “You get a knot in your stomach, you wonder why,” he says of every pass through the same place. “The images of that night don’t disappear.”

According to her representative Greek train, a total of 101 people went to Thessaloniki (the number taking into account landings at intermediate stations), less than a third of the capacity. The train had five passenger cars and 344 seats. Intercity 55, following the return route from Thessaloniki, started with 78 passengers. Earlier in the morning, another train departed from Athens to Kalambaka, carrying about 200 people, on which the Minister of State boarded. George Herapetritis.

On the way to Thessaloniki, train drivers received detailed instructions on the speed they must adhere to on certain sections of the network. On the four pages of the corresponding manual saw “K”, the maximum speed is indicated as 120 kilometers, while previously the limit was 160. The new value now only applies to the remote controlled part where the traffic lights work. Where the remote control does not work, the speed limit under the new rules is limited to 100 km, and in other places it is reduced to 80.

Railway workers

Train 52 bound for Thessaloniki departed at approximately 9 am from the engine room of Rentis. Followed by the last checks, which lasted about half an hour. As usual, the braking of the train, the correct operation of each door and the air conditioning were checked. Coupling of wagons, gaps between bumpers and wheel thicknesses were checked, among other things, to ensure that the train met travel requirements.

OUR Konstantinos Koiliaris was initially informed last Saturday that he would be the operator on the first route from Athens to Thessaloniki. On Sunday, it was officially confirmed that he would take up the position. Together with another colleague and the presence of an escort in the cabin, they drove the train to Lianoklady. There was a change of crews, and other colleagues took the reins to Thessaloniki. He felt no uncertainty about what lay ahead. He felt, as he emphasizes, more confident, because now everyone will be given increased attention and the general traffic regulations will apply.

“It’s weird for everyone emotionally. We went with colleagues along this route and now they will not be. We also experienced this in 2017 with the accident in Adendros, we are experiencing it now.” says “K”. “When psychologists told me that oblivion someday comes, I answered them that for us railroad workers this moment never comes.” He remembers a colleague who died in 2017 at Adendros in Thessaloniki when a train derailed. “It was then that I first realized that there will be difficult times in this profession, usually no one thinks of the worst. Whenever I pass this point, I will blow the train whistle, I will think about it, I will make my cross,” he says.

A small stone church now stands at the point of impact, seven bouquets of flowers stuck in the wire fence catch a glimpse of the eye.

He has been with OSE since 2004 as an engineer, first in the control center and for the last six years as a traction staff. “Since I joined the railway, it is not clear whether something like this can happen on an open line, on a track where you are theoretically comfortable. Let’s say I’m going to 160 and I won’t see anything in front of me, unless the mountain leaves,” he points out.

train driver Christos Zaraydonis The previous day, he had spoken to colleagues who had disembarked from the first commercial train in Athens after the accident. So far, after the restart of the routes, he has worked on the commuter train from Piraeus to the airport and from Athens to Chalkis. Now he thinks about the moment when one day he too will be called to pass through Tempi. “What happened was unimaginable for all of us, a head-on collision in a double line. You feel numb. I hope that from now on everyone will do what they have to do and that the necessary security systems will be put in place to reduce the possibility of human error,” he notes.

Passengers

Some of the passengers on train 52, tourists from abroad, did not know that they were on the first train after the accident. They realized this when they saw cameras and journalists at the Athens train station. OUR Irini Kefalidou And Christian Stadler, whenever they come to Greece from Germany where they live, they choose the train for their journey. “Oh, today is probably the first time,” she says, Ms. Kefalidou thought when she saw the film crew. “We used to have a reservation, but talking to other people, they told us that it is statistically difficult for something like this to happen in such a short period of time,” he adds. “I think that everyone will be more careful, with the bus, maybe it would be more dangerous,” adds Mr. Stadler.

Further on in the Vasiliki train, Siula placed her suitcase in front of her feet. The seats to her side and opposite her are empty, as is most of her carriage. He travels this route 12 times a year and says he is not afraid. “And the one who put the stationmaster in his place may have responsibilities, and those who are higher have responsibilities,” he emphasizes. A fellow traveler listening to the conversation points out, without giving his name, how far the railway has lagged behind other European countries, although it is considered a safe means of transport.

Victims

13:10, when two passenger trains intersect at Lianoklady station, 52 head to Thessaloniki and 55 head to Athens. The stop lasts no more than ten minutes before the change of crews in the driver’s cabs. Interim President of OSE, Panagiotis Terezakis, takes a seat behind the drivers of the Intercity 55 train to accompany them to the finish line. The routes will now also have a railwayman as a navigator. He will carry around a device similar to a mobile phone. This is a GSMR communication system. It has not yet been certified by the Railroad Regulatory Authority for use in rolling stock and for connecting train drivers to stationmasters inside galleries or anywhere else on the network. In the event of a breakdown or other unforeseen event, the navigator will contact the station master using this device.

The train arrives at Thessaloniki station at 16.20, five hours and 52 minutes after departure. On the escalators under the platforms, five people greet the first passengers and give each of them six pages with the names and short biographies of those killed on February 28. Among them are the sister and husband of the two victims and an 18-year-old Angelos Chiamuraswho survived the train that night and was awarded for his help in rescuing fellow travelers.

“57 of our people”

“They are not 57 dead, for us they are 57 of our people, everyone has a name and history, they are not just numbers,” he says of their movement and emphasizes that they should not have started routes before “40 days”. have passed since the death of the children” and without completely shutting down the remote control.

On the pages they hand out, next to each name, in addition to the age and education of the victim, they also noted a few details about their journey that night. “Clavdia-Alexandra Lata was 20 years old, she comes from Larissa,” they write about one of the victims, a student of the medical faculty of the Military School of the Officer Corps in Thessaloniki. “She traveled with her partner. They were together in the dining room, and seconds before the collision, she asked him to find seats for them at the end of the train. He went and was saved…”