On Monday morning, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, will visit the Prosecutor of the Supreme Court, Georgia Adelini, with the subject of rail transport safety.

Speaking to SKAI about the near accident at Suburbanthe Minister of Infrastructure and Transport emphasized that “there was a human error, there was a referral within the institutions before the specific incident was made public. Signaling and remote control also worked there.”

To the agencies involved with rail travel, Mr. Staikouras said that “This is changing in the coming months. We will have one body, the OSE, and underneath it will be the ERGOSE and the section of the GEOSE that has to do with rolling stock. There will be a person responsible for the entire structure of the transportation project. It will be implemented from the beginning of 2025.

Regarding the remote control and signaling systems, Mr. Staikouras underlined that on the Athens-Thessaloniki line they have been operating since the end of August 2023, except for one point that was destroyed by the bad weather Daniel. “We secured money to cover signaling in sections that the country never had, such as Athens – Kiato”, he added.

Referring to the level crossings, the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport stated that 25 million euros have been secured in order to hold a tender to build 90 level crossings throughout Greece.

Regarding the railway accidents with falling trees, Mr. Staikouras emphasized that “we spent 6 million euros to deal with the problem holistically, throughout Greece. Workshops will intervene in neighboring areas and the lines”, noting, however, that he has contacted his counterpart the Italian Minister of Transport for the supply of new trains.