Tuesday, February 28, 2023. From the central train station in Athens, the last train of the day leaves for Thessaloniki, the second largest and most populous city in Greece. 342 passengers -mostly university students- and 10 workers from the Hellenic Train company travel the 500 kilometers after having spent a few days on vacation in Athens.
That night, Vasilis Samarás, with hardly any experience in the job, was on duty as head of the Lárisa station. A carelessness in the handling of the needles made him place the passenger convoy that was going in the direction of Thessaloniki on the wrong track. He also didn’t check the train’s progress on the outdated remote control and signaling system that records the train’s path as it leaves the station. A few kilometers later, the train collided head-on with a freight railway; it derailed, fell down an embankment and the first wagons burned at high temperatures, becoming a death trap for travelers.
During the days that followed the incident, and as more details of the accident became known, the indignation of the Hellenes grew. Demonstrations, strikes followed, and the country boiled with rage for four weeks. Traffic on the country’s main rail line took weeks to restore, while modernization of signaling and safety systems will not be finished until next fall.
four months later
At the central station of Athens, the train is scheduled to leave at 9:59 in the morning, but the passengers timidly begin to arrive before 9. It’s Friday and most of the travelers are young, especially students who are going to pass the weekend in cosmopolitan Thessaloniki. Some return with enormous backpacks and textbooks, others with the duffel bag from the military service still compulsory in Greece. Minutes before the train enters the station, a worker from the railway company notifies the passengers of the place where wagon number 5, the last of the convoy, will be located. Suddenly, the vast majority of those waiting on the platform are heading towards that point. Once inside the Efi train, the controller of the route, explains to us that, since the accident occurred, the cars in the back are the first to fill up with passengers because no one wants to travel in the three cars in front anymore.
We take our seats in car number two, which is practically empty. Fear persists among the Greeks, although no one wants to admit it. We spoke with Anastasia, 75, a regular passenger on the line who today travels in car number 4. “If it has to happen to you, it will happen to you the same way,” says this passenger who says she is not afraid. “Since the accident, there are more staff, both in the station and on the train, and they are much friendlier than before,” she adds. Efi tells us that since Easter, the railway company has doubled the workforce and that the workers have the obligation to inform passengers of any changes, she explains.
Panayotis and Dimitris in the train cafeteria
Dimitris and Panayotis, two 23-year-old friends, solve crossword puzzles at one of the tables in the cafeteria car. They do admit that they tried to buy tickets in car number 5. “I asked him to buy tickets in car 5, but he didn’t listen to me,” says Dimitris grumpily. “I tried but it was complete, so I bought them for the second one because it was the only one in which I found two places together,” replies Panayotis. The two friends are traveling to the city for the first time thanks to the “youth pass” that the Government has given to young people for spending on tourism and cultural leisure. “People are afraid even if they don’t recognize it. When we were waiting on the platform and the train has arrived, I have heard many people say “let’s hope we have a good trip” and the same when we got into the carriage”, explains Dimitris.
The train approaches the town of Tebas. Minutes before, the controller announces over the public address system that the convoy will arrive three minutes late. Surprising in a country so accustomed to delays of several hours. “We warn up to two-minute delays to avoid distressing passengers,” says Efi. The auditor who has been at the post since last April tells us that “since I started working, I have only experienced one episode: a woman in her 30s suffered a panic attack because she had sat in carriage number two. . We managed to seat her in the last car and she calmed down ».
We arrive at the Larisa station and dozens of passengers get off at the station. We set off and silence invades the carriage. The train enters the darkness of the Tempe Valley Tunnel and some travelers begin to cross themselves and pray. They do not admit that they are afraid, but what is clear is that the victims are still present among the users of the most important railway line in Greece.
