Greek railroad disaster: OSE inspector accuses yet another station master

Two people have been remanded in custody so far for the fatal accident in Tempi that claimed the lives of 57 Greeks. The traffic inspector of OSE (and supervisor of the fatal Larissa station master who did not turn the switch) was not convincing and after his lengthy deposition to the appellant investigator he was also remanded into custody.

The inspector during his deposition, which started around 15:00 on Thursday afternoon and ended in the early hours of Friday morning, submitted an 80-page memorandum and allegedly implicated the traffic manager as the person responsible, who was killed recently in a traffic accident, while he also blamed the station master of Paleofarsalos.

Responsibilities also to the Paleofarsalos station master

In particular, the inspector presented his opinion, that the Paleofarsals station master is also responsible for the malfunction at the Larissa station that unfortunately resulted in the fatal accident, as he had the responsibility to inform his colleagues in Larissa that Intercity 62 had 1 hour delay.

A position that the station master of Paleofarsalos himself vigorously refutes. “In other words, we will inform the supervisor at every delay?” No no no. He’s looking for a way to get outof this, you understand…”, was his reaction.

The 63-year-old inspector, justifying his opinion, said that after 11 pm no passenger train was scheduled. As he says, he himself had three stationmasters on shift until 11:00 p.m. “I propose the shifts, but they are approved by my superiors,” he is reported to have argued, thus leaving barbs for the OSE traffic manager.

At the same time, he argued that the “fatal” station master of Larissa was capable of staying alone on shift. He admitted that he was indeed the one who drew up the shifts, but in no way was he responsible either for the fact that two of the three station masters left their post earlier on the night of the tragedy, nor for their professional training.

It is noted that the inspector in question received sick leave a few hours after the tragedy with the 57 dead and while extrication operations were underway after the collision of the two trains in Tempi.

It is recalled that the other two station masters, one under contract labor and the more experienced one, were released with restrictive conditions after their depositions last Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.