Station master was sure he had sent the Intercity up – It took over half an hour to realize the two trains had collided
Creepy dialogue sheds new light on tragic train accident of February 27 in Tempe.
Based on the chilling dialogues released by Proto Thema, the 59-year-old fatal station master BS appeared confident that he had “locked” Intercity 62 on the uphill line, even after being informed by the traffic controller that the passenger train had collided head-on with the commercial train in the area of Evangelismos, near Tempe.
This emerges from the conversations on the intercom system between the station authorities and the traffic controller in Athens at night:
Due to the lack of the railway’s remote control system, the regulator is unable to monitor trains electronically as they move on the network – and is obliged to accept the update from station masters.
Listen to the dialogues:
On 23.05 on Tuesday, the day after Clean Monday, the station master of New Resources – the next station after Larissa – contacts B.S., who was the only station master left at that particular station. Under normal circumstances, Intercity train 62 would have approached Thessaloniki, but a technical problem delayed it at Paleofarsalo station.
Without any foreshadowing of the impending disaster, the 59-year-old informs his colleague – who a little earlier had told him that the commercial train had departed from Neios Poros – that at that moment he was “chasing 62”.
At 23.24 – at the moment of the catastrophic collision of the two trains, the station master is informed by Athens that there is a problem with the trains’ electrical network – apparently as a result of the tragic collision.
At 23.27, the regulator he contacts Larissa again about the power supply problem, not knowing anything about the collision of the two trains.
At 23.41, the regulator traffic has information from the fire department that there is a collision between two trains. He calls the station master of Larissa, who – as he says at the beginning of the conversation – he also has information, but he has stuck to the two initial versions, either that a truck fell on the train from the uneven junction, or that the commercial train derailed. She asks him if he “kicked” the train off the rise. The stationmaster exclaims “aman”, and assures that the train has left the ascending line.
Six minutes later, at 23.47, the traffic controller again contacts the station master, points out to him that the collision has taken place in the area of Evangelismos, and again asks BS from which line he drove the Intercity. “It must have been a crash” states BS, and in response he insists that he had it on the climb line, but visibly nervous for the first time he begins to say that he had a problem with the keys that day.
At 23.57, the adjuster asks again the stationmaster from which line he “kicked” the passenger train – and he claims that he had trouble with keys and changes all day while he was on the night shift. “He left an ascent… how did he get into the descent with these keys, I don’t know what happened,” he says characteristically.
At 00.06, the station master of New Resources shocked, she contacts BS and asks him why the collision happened. “There was a crash… I don’t know what to tell you, Eleni, I’ll lie to you, I don’t know how this train got into the descent…”, he replies.
At 00.21, the traffic controller asks BS again: It was showing you a rise, right? “Yes”, replies the station master…
Source: Skai
I have worked as a journalist for over 10 years, and my work has been featured on many different news websites. I am also an author, and my work has been published in several books. I specialize in opinion writing, and I often write about current events and controversial topics. I am a very well-rounded writer, and I have a lot of experience in different areas of journalism. I am a very hard worker, and I am always willing to put in the extra effort to get the job done.