He said that starting in 2020, union representatives sent legal notices to the company responsible for Greece’s railway infrastructure, OSE, as well as government and regulatory officials, but received no reply. The head of the engine drivers’ union, Costas Genidounias, said an up-to-date traffic control system was supposed to have been ready three years ago. Despite years of modernization projects, much of the key rail control work is still manually operated. Greece has a limited rail network that doesn’t reach much of the country. It was during the crisis, in 2017, that the rail operator, then heavily losing money, was privatized and bought by Italy’s Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group.

Protests were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.Ĭritics blame a lack of public investment during the deep financial crisis that spanned most of the previous decade and brought Greece to the brink of bankruptcy. Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. A second 24-hour strike was called for Friday.Ĭitrus crisis: As an iconic Florida crop fades, another tree rises Railway workers’ associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. Workers, relatives say train system unsafe

The collision of a passenger train and a freight train was the country’s deadliest ever, and more than 48 people remained hospitalized – with six in intensive care – most in the central Greek city of Larissa. The government has blamed human error, and a railway official was charged with manslaughter.Įmergency crews, meanwhile, inched through the remains of passenger carriages in their search for the dead from Tuesday night’s head-on collision, which has left 57 confirmed dead – a number that rescuers fear will increase. Family members awaited the results of DNA testing to identify victims of a train crash that killed nearly 60 people in Greece, as workers went on strike Thursday saying the rail system is outdated, underfunded, and dangerous.

Judicial consent movie part 1