MEPs say that two years since Greece’s deadliest train crash there are “still too many unanswered questions.”
This claim came in a parliamentary debate with the EU’s Transport Commissioner Apóstolos Tzitzikostas.
The Left Group in the EU Parliament, where the debate was held this week, alleged that the discussion “highlights systemic failures, safety hazards and Commission shortcomings” regarding the 2023 Tempi railway tragedy that claimed 57 lives.
After months of pushing for a debate, The Left in the European Parliament succeeded in securing a discussion on the Tempi train incident in the Parliament, as Greece has just marked over two years since the deadly head-on train collision.
A long-awaited report in February this year blamed major systemic failures for the accident, including antiquated infrastructure and underfunding, cumulative factors that ultimately result from political decisions at the highest levels of power in Greece.
A little after 11pm on 28 February 2023, 57 people, mostly students enrolled at university in Thessaloniki, died when their northbound train collided head on with a southbound freight train in the Vale of Tempe.
Reports said that in the absence of automated safety controls, the trains had hurtled for miles along the same track before a ferocious collision. In the explosion that followed, at least seven victims were incinerated instantly, according to a 178-page report released by Greece’s air and rail accident authority on the eve of the second anniversary of the accident.
Families and experts have since accused the government of suppressing key evidence, claiming no forensic team documented the crash site before debris removal.
However, the Greek government has consistently denied any cover-up or mishandling of the investigation. It was Greece’s worst rail disaster and the report said it was due to chronic safety gaps that still need to be addressed to prevent a repeat.
The inquiry by the National Aviation Investigation Agency and Railway Accidents and Transportation Safety (HARSIA), the first by the Greek authorities to conclude, investigated the causes of the crash.
The incident led to public outrage and prompted widespread demos as the families of the victims accused authorities of trying to cover up evidence. The crash led to a huge fireball and an explosion of unclear origin.
In the debate in parliament, Left MEPs said they wanted to “highlight”what they called “the responsibility of Prime Minister Mitsotakis and the European Commission for failing to upgrade the infrastructure in Greece before the tragedy.”
MEP Kostas Arvanitis (Syriza, Greece) said: “Since 2017, there has been an investigation into the crucial — and non-existent — contract between the Ministry and Hellenic Railways Organization. It took six years for Greece to be brought before the Court of the European Union. After the Tempi accident, the contract was hastily and panic-strickenly submitted, and the case was withdrawn without any examination of its compatibility with Directive 2012/34. How can this be justified, when DG MOVE itself is now raising objections regarding its content?”
Arvanitis also raised questions over what he called “the political integrity of the committee responsible for investigating the tragedy.”
The MEP added, “The Hellenic Aviation and Railway Safety Investigation Agency operates with members directly appointed by the Minister. Is this how the Commission understands the concept of the functional independence of the body?” he added.
