The proposals of the railway workers for its safe restart were discussed at the meeting held today by the Minister of State, who is also responsible for issues of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Giorgos Gerapetritis, with the representatives of the Panhellenic Federation of Railways (POS) and other unions.

“There was a very serious and constructive discussion and it was agreed to set a new meeting, immediately, for its continuation and the safe restart of the railway” is stated in a ministry announcement.

In his statements after the meeting, the president of POS-MST, Yiannis Ditsas, said “proposals were submitted by POS that are timeless, but today relevant for an open, safe and quality railway».

“The commitment of the ministry“, he continued, “is that in order for the railway to restart there must be all the guarantees both from the state and from the workers’ side for the safe operation of the railway. We will meet again next week to see how the process will proceed».

According to railway sources, among the proposals of the Unions that will be concretized and integrated into a single text, the adoption of measures such as:

· Psychological support for Traction and Train Traffic workers

· Gradual reopening of arterial trains and their staffing by the Train Traffic and Control Staff with three employees.

· Immediate re-operation of commercial trains in Northern Greece and following the restoration of the railway infrastructure, gradual rerouting of all commercial trains.

· Reduction of speed limits on non-remote network sections

· Update of the General Traffic Regulation and its faithful application

· Clear definition as to the duties of the Train Master

· Correct flow of spare parts to increase and reliability of rolling stock

· Training of Traction and Movement staff on all rolling stock

* Direct coverage of the needs of the Traffic Network Directorates,

*Reduction of passenger routes by approximately 50% (arterial trains)

* Gradual increase of all suburban train routes

Restart GSMR

*’Immediate permanence of colleagues with provision of services with evaluation

* New announcement for positions related to the organizational chart within a quarter