Relaunching railway services safely is key to restoring public’s confidence in using trains again

Speaking at Saturday’s first assembly of the Hellenic Railways Organization’s (OSE) newly set up Crisis Management Coordination Center, Gerapetritis noted that “the new operational framework for relaunching the country’s train services begins next Wednesday, with train itineraries added every five days, so that we have the full schedules operating approximately twenty-five days before Orthodox Easter [April 16].”

The minister added that restarting the country’s railways safely is key to restoring the public’s confidence in using it again.

In order to APE MPE

At the meeting, emphasis was paid on safety issues such as fire safety and fire detection issues, as well as on the strict adherence to train traffic regulations.

Regarding tunnel safety, the minister pointed out that “we have immediate plans to upgrade surveillance with electronic cameras,” and that “there will only be one train tracking along in every tunnel at any one time until remote control and management systems are fully installed again.”

The remote train control systems at the Larissa station were operating properly on the night of the train accident, he pointed out anew.

“We considered it appropriate as the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport to have a single coordination center which would include all those public bodies involved in crisis management – that is, the Greek police, the fire service and the EKAV, as well as the network operator, that is, the Hellenic Train” he said.

In this way, we believe that we will be able, on the one hand, to better monitor the safety systems, and on the other hand, to proceed with very rapid steps in upgrading all the safety standards of our railway network in order to significantly improve public confidence, in the face of all issues related to the railway in Greece”.