At the conclusion of the RAS ex officio auditwhich records human error both on the part of the stationmaster and on the part of the train drivers, as well as indications of a possible non-completion of the entire training of the stationmasters, the president of the Railway Regulatory Authority, Ioanna Tsiaparikou, testified as a witness to the commission of inquiry. “to investigate the Tempe crime.”

As the president of RAS said, the station master did not work as it should, the drivers did not communicate, there was a failure at various levels of controls, while we checked the training of the stationmasters to see that it was indeed completed, according to the curriculum, which had been submitted to us and approved. “We found some indications that it is possible that not all the hours provided for in the program were completed, because there were no signed attendance sheets during the practical training” said Mrs. Tsiaparikou.

To a question about the role of remote control, he said that with the development of the projects that we had been informed would be implemented, such an accident would probably have been avoided. He pointed out, however, that RAS did not investigate the accident and that since there was no remote control, we cannot say about a procedure that did not exist.

In a question about the removal of the wire safety chief in March 2019, especially when the new safety projects on the railway were not completed, Mrs Tsiaparikou said that this position no longer exists in European railways expressing the assessment that “maybe then they thought that everything would have been finished on time”. However, he noted that the way the Greek railway is, “any safety valve would be necessary”.

On the occasion of her reports of understaffing of the Authority, especially during the first period when she took over the leadership of RAS (2017), the chairman of the committee Dimitris Markopoulos asked her if she had received pressure from political figures for secondments. Mrs. Tsiaparikou said that there were applications for secondments of two administrative employees to SYRIZA and a SYRIZA MP.

As for the driver’s healthand the information that was published yesterday about his history of strokes, Mrs. Tsiaparikou said that no such information had reached the Authority and that if the railway company he worked for (Hellenic Train) knew about it they should send him for a medical examination or not use him as a driver. As far as our responsibilities are concerned, a complete, thorough and reverential check had been carried out regarding the medical certificates and generally the adequacy of the train drivers, said Mrs. Tsiaparikou and added: The fact that there was an introduction, we do not have it in our hands us. I heard it from you. As for whether there was an issue with the capacity of this particular person, “we had the certifications of the doctors who judge him as competent. If he himself hadn’t declared something to the doctors, or if the company that employed him knew and didn’t evaluate it medically, I can’t know that.”

For his part, the MP of SYRIZA-PS Vassilis Kokkalis said that the ND’s reference to the driver’s history of strokes constitutes “shameful attempt” to cover up real responsibility for the accidentwhile PASOK-Movement for Change MP M. Apostolaki said that the majority seeks to prove a causal connection between the posting of administrative employees and the accident, at a time when there is the huge issue of the illegal transfer of the station master.

Finally, it is noted that the examination committee unanimously decided to request a new extension of its operation for another month and until February 22, 2024.