“The driver trusted the stationmaster 1,000% when he shouldn’t have… That is the reprimand for the driver. The stationmaster was an inexperienced clerk, who was badly placed at the Larissa station”. This is what retired train driver instructor Nikolaos Tsouridis emphasized to SKAI and Atariastos, speaking about the tragedy in Tempi, and the fatal mistake of the train driver.

Mr. Tsouridis explained that “in the conversation between the station master and the train driver there is a guilty secret. The train driver was friends with the station master, and unfortunately both of them did not comply with the formal official duties”.

“Let’s not say they had a friendly relationship, but an intimacy. What I’m trying to say is that the driver trusted the stationmaster 1,000% when he shouldn’t have. This is the reprimand as far as the driver is concerned. The station master was an inexperienced employee, who was poorly placed at the Larissa station. The Larissa station it is a very difficult station in terms of traffic, because it is a station of departure, termination, passing trains. It also has the engine room nearby, where engine units are raised and lowered. It has tremendous traffic. So there must be one there not just experienced, but experienced, with extensive experience as a station master. Station masters, like train drivers, face enormous challenges every day. No day is the same, today’s events are different, tomorrow’s events are different, yesterday’s events are different. So, in these different challenges, your mind must be spinning. But that won’t happen because you’re smart and you finished with a 10 and not a 9. You have to be very experienced and know what’s going on with the running of the trains.”

As Mr. Tsouridis mentioned, during the conversation between the station master and the train driver, the former did not inform the latter which line to follow: “At the exit of Larissa there are two lines, one going down from Thessaloniki and the other going up to Thessaloniki. That’s where the fatal mistake was made by the station master… He didn’t tell the train driver to go from the ascending line or the descending line. According to the regulation, the station master is obliged to tell the train driver which line to follow. The experienced train driver is obliged to ask and if he does not receive clear instructions, then he must not depart.”