Transport minister, railway unions meet anew on safe restart of country’s train services

Minister of State responsible for Infrastructure & Transport Giorgos Gerapetritis met anew with railway staff unions on Monday to discuss the safe rebooting of Greece’s railway network following the deadly train collision at Tempi on February 28.

The minister and members of the Panhellenic Federation of Railway Workers Unions (POS), who first met on March 9, discussed how to best ensure the safe operation of the country’s railways until the new remote control and signaling system – ETCS, or the European Train Control System – becomes operational at the end of September.

Railway staff included in their proposals recommendations for relaunching railways safely and for reestablishing confidence of employees and passengers in the system. They also included proposals for staff training and technical upgrades.

According to railway union sources, the Athens suburban railway (proastiakos) services will be the first to resume, as it is a network that uses full-scale remote control systems. Freight trains will restart next, followed by passenger trains, it was added.

(File photo from March 9 meeting)