Rail transport in Greece began to gradually resume on Wednesday, 21 days after the head-on collision of two trains that killed 57 people and paralyzed movement on the country’s railways.
Several suburban trains in Athens and Patras returned to service today, as well as several tourist routes in central and southern Greece.
Although the government had planned to resume intercity and freight routes in the north of the country, these are still suspended because drivers refuse to drive the trains, underscoring that there are still safety problems on those routes.
In a letter sent on Tuesday to Hellenic Train, the company that operates the Hellenic railways, the drivers’ union assures that at various points on these routes communication between the train and the station is not possible.
The union asks the company for written confirmation that it is safe to go through a series of tunnels where firefighters have reported “safety problems”.
According to the government’s plan, rail service, both freight and passenger, will resume gradually until April 11.
“It is necessary to restart the train service to regain the trust of the population,” said the interim Minister of Transport, Yorgos Yerapetritis.
On February 28, a passenger train collided head-on with a freight train north of the city of Larisa, killing 57 people, most of them university students.
Source: TSF
