The cadre of those responsible for the Tempe tragedy is being expanded, as, after the pre-trial detention of the fatal Larissa station master and the prosecution of the inspector and the other two station masters who were on duty in Larissa, new prosecutions are expected, with attention now turning to at the headquarters of the OSE.

According to information, the investigation is aimed at the central managers of the OSE, who received the shift lists a month in advance and had to check if the station masters were correctly assigned and if the needs were met.

Regarding the prosecutions that have already been brought, the inspector and the two station masters, who seem to have left earlier than the end of their shift, are on the staff.

According to the indictment, the sentences they will face range from 10 years to lifefor disrupting transportation security.

The inspector put the inexperienced station master in Larissa alone for 4 days, while the basic station master, the contract holder, had to sit until 11 at night. And the assistant also had to sit until 11. Both left earlier.

The two station masters will be called in the next few days by interrogator.

The Plenum of Appeals of Larissa is meeting today – Two additional appeals investigators in the investigation

The Plenum of Appeals of Larissa is meeting tomorrow, in order for 21, in total, senior judges, to choose the two appellate investigators who will henceforth run the investigations after the initiative to upgrade the investigations, made by the head of the Larissa Appellate Prosecutor’s Office Stamatis Daskalopoulos, who supervises from the first moment the interrogations in their entirety by order of the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court Isidoros Dogiakos.

The inspector “burns” the station masters

Meanwhile, for multiple mistakes and abandonment of positions by the two stationmasters who had a shift before the fatal stationmaster in Larissa speaks the OSE inspectorwith a statement made through the lawyer of Ioannis Glykas.

More specifically, the inspector’s statement:

“Undeniably, the choice to this day of silence is made as a minimal sign of respect for the victims and their families, whose pain is unbearable.

However, my presumption of innocence must be respected as well as my right to a Fair Trial and I place myself before the Authorities, being at their disposal at any time and moment. After all, from the first moment, that is on 03/03/2023 after a telephone call, at around 13:00 I voluntarily went before the 3rd Investigative Department of First Instances of Larisa, presenting relevant documents for information and testifying for four (4) hours.

With reference to the train accident in Tempi that occurred on February 28, 2023 near the Evangelismos settlement of Tempi Larisa and involved the head-on collision of the Hellenic Train company’s passenger train with the commercial train:

THE Administration of the OSE in the month of May 2022hired locksmiths while in the month of August it proceeded to hire seventy-eight (78) station masters with a service card, of which thirteen (13) were placed in Larissa.

In this case, the following should be clarified to clarify the responsibilities of the above mentioned.

On the one hand, the locksmith, as a working position on the railway, has as his main mission to assist the stationmaster, taking orders from the latter. If any failure occurs in the automatic system or if necessary, the locksmith will manually change the keys at the command of the station master. It should be emphasized that until the year 2019, the remote control functioned in the section of Larisa – Paleofarsalo – Katerinis, however, due to a fire, it was put out of operation until today.

On the other hand, the station masters, through theoretical and practical training – apprenticeship -, receive the relevant accompanying certification from the Organization for assuming their duties.

Based on the internal protocols of the OSE, the training process of the station masters includes a total of 716 hours of theoretical and practical training. Of these, 524 hours concern theoretical training and the remaining 192 hours of theory, along with practical training.

For clarification, the status of Inspector does not play any role in the training described above, as we do not participate in it. All employees are considered equal and competent in performing their assigned duties. Even in the case of new recruits, no special treatment takes place. Notably, all the Inspections of the network (from Patras to Alexandroupolis) placed the certified station masters in their main duties at all stations, in circuit work.

After all, the attendance sheet of the employees is notified to the competent Traffic Directorate as well as to the competent Personnel Directorate, one month in advance, drawn up by the respective Inspection. Therefore, everyone had knowledge about the workers who are going to be placed on any shift at any point!

In this case, on 28/02/2023 I was at Volos Station throughout the day due to official needs. Between 23:40 and 23:55 I am informed first that trains 62 and 80563 are not responding! It is emphasized at this point that, under a normal route – without delay -, train 62 would depart from Larissa station on 22.11, where during the period 22.00-23.00 there were 3 stationmasters according to the schedule.

After taking all the necessary actions, I called the relevant station masters as I had to do. At 23:55 it is confirmed that the upper trains collided. Around 00:10 I now leave after the secretary for the point of the collision. When we arrived at the scene and after realizing what had taken place, I then informed Mr. Director, accurately stating the extent of the disaster.

Multiple mistakes, abandonment of positions during duty by two stationmasters and non-consequential observance of the timetable, the untimely and forced notification by the absent train drivers of the entry to the descent line while at the same time not informing them in any way by the competent stationmaster , combined with the delay in completing the installation of the remote control system and the signaling works, compose the scene of the tragic accident».