Greek Min. of State and Transport-Infrastructure on Tempi tragedy: If we had a universal remote control system the accident would not have happened

The new Minister of Infrastructure Giorgos Gerapetritis offered his apologies on behalf of the government for the Tempi accident because we could not prevent it, tasked during the press conference on the interventions concerning the railway network.

Prefacing the Minister of State, the government representative, Yiannis Economou, ruled out any idea of cover-up and pointless partisan confrontation.

Mr. Gerapetritis referred to the causes of the tragic accident, the day after, how to restart the railway network and the interventions that will be made in the next period so that it can operate safely.

At the beginning of the press conference, Mr. Gerapetritis underlined that “I would like to express my pain and heartbreak for what happened at Tempi. Due to the magnitude of the tragedy, the suffering will have to find a catharsis,” he noted.

I tried, as he said, within this week to be informed about all the matters of the ministry related to the subject of the accident.

“I am not here to make a political confrontation. The current government’s responsibility has been taken. I also want to apologize on behalf of the government to all Greek citizens for not being able to prevent the accident.”

His job, he said, is to ensure that what happened is resolved and that the trains are running again.

In the coming days, Mr. Gerapetritis will request a debate in the Parliament on the pathogenies of the railways.

Also, there will be a replacement of the OSE and ERGOSE administration as the resignations have been placed at the prime minister’s disposal and the replacement will take place in the next few days. “We will proceed with the new administrations to quickly resume the routes,” he said.

The minister also emphasized that “there was no interruption in the operation of the remote control center of Larissa. So, on the fateful night, it was necessary for there to have been automatic course marking on the upper board.”

He then reported that there were human management lapses. “Regardless of the human error if we had a universal remote control system the accident probably would not have happened.

It is obvious that in addition to human error there is also an issue that has to do with the completion of the required works”, he underlined

Mr. Gerapetritis thanked those who were in the field from the first moment, but also in the hospitals of Larissa. He thanked the health workers, the firefighters, the members of the the EKAV ambulance service, those who made the identifications who informed the families with empathy.

Staff shortages

Mr. Gerapetritis referred to the issue of personnel, noting among other things that “in addition to the issue of infrastructure, I hear about the issue of personnel.

In terms of staff, it is obvious that more qualified staff is always required. A major effort was made to strengthen the railway organization. In the last 15 years there has been a significant reduction in staff. Unfortunately we did not have a significant replenishment. A very small number of replacements have taken place in recent years.”

The minister even informed that the recruitment of 117 people has been launched, which has already reached the evaluation phase.

He characteristically noted that “in recent years there has been an effort to replenish human resources on three levels: the issue of mobility, in 2021 we had a competition for 117 people and in 2022 another 100 in addition to the 200 hired with a benefit card”.

Mr. Gerapetritis admitted that “the railway in Greece is undergoing a long-term obsolescence and degradation. It has to do with the maintenance but also with the upgrading of the electronic infrastructures related to security”.

“The railway operated for tens of years with manual safety mechanisms”, emphasized the new Minister of Infrastructure.

How to restart the railway

The Minister of Infrastructure also referred to the restart of the railways.

To do this, he noted, “it is important that the railway can start again and not wait for the whole technological upgrade, because we have to support the confidence of the citizens in the railway which is a popular mode of transportation”.

Mr. Gerapetritis added that “the restart will only take place under absolute safety conditions. With two stationmasters at the stations, which means that there can be a reduction in transport work and with greater coordination in the context of the technological possibilities that have arisen today”.

“In the coming days we will have discussions about reducing routes and fewer stations,” he said characteristically.

On the subject of staff training

Mr. Gerapetritis then spoke about the training of the staff and especially the station masters. Besides, he emphasized that a stricter framework for railway sabotage, such as theft, will come to the Parliament for voting.

“In the long term there is already a plan being drawn up for OSE and ERGOSE to change the philosophy of the security approach”, he underlined.

With reference to the ongoing investigation, he emphasized that it will go to the end and within this framework the country’s railway network will be upgraded.

For the next step, he emphasized that “we must have a system so that the train can see the station master and the control center, to have interaction. It requires one installation on the track and one on the train. There is also the universal remote control system that will be able to see the location of each train throughout the country.”

The Commission’s conclusion

In the next period of time the competent committee will make its decision. “This is not a commission that concerns the criminal components but the administrative framework and its conclusion will be included in the case file. There is no risk of sanctions from the EU,” said Mr Gerapetritis.

“This Commission is an administrative Commission to investigate the causes. It is not a commission that deals with the criminal components of the crime and therefore in this sense it will investigate administrative causes. And the conclusion of this Committee will be taken into account in the file, that is, it will be an element of the case file”.

The next steps

For the next step, he emphasized that “we must have a system so that the train can see the station master and the control center, to have interaction. It requires one installation on the track and one on the train. There is also the universal remote control system that will be able to see the location of each train throughout the country.”

Regarding the GSMR system, i.e. secure communications, Mr. Gerapetritis noted that he has no information that it has been approved by RAE.

As Mr. Gerapetritis said, “the prime minister contacted the president of Alston France with whom he had a discussion on the implementation of the contract. He gave a clear mandate that the completion time should come as soon as possible,” and added that “there was understanding from the French parent company.”