Rail traffic was paralyzed by a strike Thursday in Greece where angry protests are increasing two days after the deadly head-on collision between two trains, despite the mea culpa of the government which recognized “chronic” failures in the railways.
“It is not a mistake but a crime”, wrote in front page the Editors’ Journal (left), summing up the shock and above all the fury that prevailed in the population, while the station master confessed in court, after his arrest on Wednesday, to have made a “mistake”.
The trains indeed traveled several kilometers on the same track linking Athens to Thessaloniki (north), the two largest Greek cities, before colliding head-on Tuesday shortly before midnight, causing the death of at least 57 people, according to the police.
“Since the year 2000 the systems have not worked”
“The dead of Tempé demand answers”, headlined the liberal Kathimerinialluding to the place, near the city of Larissa (center), where the disaster occurred.
At the same time, the trains did not run on Thursday after a call for a strike by the Confederation bringing together railway unions to denounce “the lack of respect shown by governments over time towards the Greek railways, which led to this disaster. The movement was renewed for the day on Friday.
“Unfortunately, our constant demands for permanent staffing, better training but above all the adoption of modern security technologies have all been definitively tossed in the trash,” these organizations lamented. The president of the OSE train drivers’ union, Kostas Genidounias, highlighted the lack of safety on the line where the collision occurred. “All (signalling) is done manually. It’s been since the year 2000 that the systems have not worked,” he got carried away.
The union representatives of the Hellenic Train railway company sounded the alarm in this regard three weeks ago. “We are not going to wait for the accident to happen to see those responsible shed crocodile tears,” they warned.
“Privatization kills”
In the evening, after a stormy first rally the day before, hundreds of people protested outside the Athens headquarters of Hellenic Train, a company bought in 2017 by the Italian public group Ferrovie Dello Stato Italiane (FS) as part of the program of privatizations demanded by Greece’s creditors during the economic crisis (2009-2018).
Residents of Larissa also demonstrated, carrying banners that read: “Privatization kills. On Thursday evening, some 2,000 demonstrators gathered in Thessaloniki. The demonstration gave rise to stone throwing and Molotov cocktails but “calm has now returned”, said a police spokesperson.
