“Apparently the safety regulation was not followed, as the train driver did not contact the station master”
By Yannis Anifantis
In the estimation how the human factor was “absolutely important” in the train accident in Tempethe former president of the Railway Regulatory Authority, Vassilis Tsiamantis, made during the period 2011-2016, testifying today Thursday to the Investigative Committee of the Parliament.
Mr. Tsiamantis defined the role of man as “primary”, considering that “apparently the safety regulation was not followed”, as the train driver did not contact the station master. However, he emphasized that if the safety systems were working “the chances of an accident would have been almost eliminated”.
A second witness testified was Mr. Athanasios Vourdas, managing director of ERGOSE in the period 2015-2017, stating that for him “it is very clear that all those involved did not apply the general rule of movement and traffic”. “I believe there were violations of the general traffic rule,” he pointed out, adding that there was no other way to cause such an accident on a double line. Majority circles point out that the former Managing Director of ERGOSE, with his testimony, destroyed “the standing argument of the opposition, that the tragedy is due to the absence of a unified remote control system”. “Mr. Vourdas made it clear that what changes with the new systems is the capacity of the network, but the human factor never ceases to exist,” the same sources emphasize.
However, at the start of today’s meeting, the discussion was monopolized again by the medical file of the driver of the fatal train, after the committee’s request that it be forwarded to it in its entirety. Vassilis Kokkalis, on behalf of SYRIZA, accused the governing majority for an operation to blame the driver, with the MP of PASOK, Panagiotis Doudonis speaking about “a stubborn attempt to shift blame to the dead”.
The chairman of the investigation, Dimitris Markopoulos, informed the committee that the former president of the OSE train drivers, Kostas Genidounias, filed a written request in order to be called to be examined as well. The Commission of Inquiry received an extension of its work until February 22.
Source: Skai
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