“Flats of seconds prevented a greater tragedy” says the professor of seismology and Director of the PMS “Environmental, Disaster & Crisis Management Strategies” Mr. Efthymios Lekkas about the long-distance collision of the two trains in Tempi, last night, saying characteristically that “if the trains collided in the adjacent railway tunnels, the existing situation would have been even more tragic.”

The analysis of Efthymios Lekkas

“If the trains collided in the adjacent railway tunnels, the existing situation would be even more tragic for the following reasons:

a. the enormous kinetic energy possessed by the two oppositely moving trains, which has been partly absorbed by the derailment of a large number of carriages, would have been dissipated by an unprecedented deformation of all the carriages of both trains along the whole length of the trains
b. the subsequent fire would occupy almost the entire length of the tunnel, while the high temperatures and stifling atmosphere would leave no room for survivors
c. there would be an inability for rescue crews to penetrate and intervene to extricate any survivors for many hours
d. there would likely be a collapse of the long gallery due to the massive impact forces and high temperatures

It is widely accepted that disaster management in recent years, instead of improving with the use of modern systems, has unfortunately worsened due to the complexity and vulnerability existing in all the individual systems.”