Rallies were held to denounce the management of the national rail network, victim of “chronic weaknesses” by the government’s own admission.
“This crime will not be forgotten!”, “Let’s become the voice of all the dead!”. On the signs brandished Friday March 3 in Athens and Thessaloniki (Greece), the demonstrators let their anger burst after the train accident which occurred on February 28 near Larissa, in the center of the country.
The heavy human toll (57 dead) and the human origin of the tragedy have pushed several thousand people into the streets, to demand the resignation of the government and more investment in the country’s rail network, Toto the point of causing violent clashes between demonstrators and police on Friday evening. Franceinfo returns to this disaster which is relaunching the debate on austerity policies in Greece.
Because this is the worst train accident in the country
The head-on collision between a passenger train and another carrying goods was such that elements “were thrown hundreds of meters into the neighboring fields”explains the newspaper Kathimerini (article in Greek). More than 340 passengers were on board, along with 10 staff. The head-on collision of the two trains was so violent that some of their components were thrown hundreds of meters
Never had a train accident cost so many lives in the country. “It is a terrible tragedy that has shocked the population,” sums up to franceinfo Georges Prevelakis, professor emeritus of geopolitics and specialist in Greece at the Sorbonne (Paris I), which reminds us that the train was “full of students”. The University of Thessaloniki said in a statement (in Greek) that nine of his students had been killed in this accident, and 26 others injured. “We are all devastated. There are no words to describe our pain and that of all members of the university community.”lamented its rector.
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How could these two trains come face to face on the same track? In this case, the investigators favor the track of negligence. Coming to the scene of the disaster, the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, affirmed that “the drama is due (…) mainly to a tragic human error”. The station master of the Larissa post was arrested on Wednesday after a statement at the police station. The 59-year-old man is being prosecuted for “negligent homicide” and “involuntary bodily harm”. He has “admitted a mistake”, but “cannot bear the burden of responsibility alone” said his lawyer on Saturday, quoted by the ERT channel (article in Greek).
Because the country’s railways have been neglected
Since the rail collision, many voices have been raised to demand the modernization of the national rail network – even its renationalization. Demonstrators notably marched in Larissa, in front of the premises of the Hellenic Train company, to the cry of “Privatization kills!” or “Their profits, our dead”. The company, privatized after the bankruptcy of Greece and the contraction of a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in 2010, was bought by the Italian public railway group Ferrovie dello Stato italiane in 2016.
But this private operation of the rail network has not been accompanied by significant work, as the unions in the sector have deplored for several years. In detail, security radars are expected, and manual signaling systems are singled out for their dangerousness. “It’s been since the year 2000 that the systems have not worked”lamented Kostas Genidounias, president of a train drivers’ union.
Hellenic Train’s recruitment methods are now under fire. In Larissa, the station master in question was in fact a porter promoted due to lack of staff, as the newspaper explains. Kathimeriniwho questioned the company’s former safety and traffic director about it.
In December 2022, the Greek railway policeman had also imposed a fine of 300,000 euros on Hellenic Train for having abandoned more than 800 passengers in the midst of a cold snap. During his visit to the scene of the tragedy on Thursday, the Greek Prime Minister publicly acknowledged of the “chronic weaknesses” in the railway sector, before announcing the creation of an independent commission of inquiry into the tragedy.
Because the political context was already very tense
If the demonstrations broke out with such force, it is also because Greece is not in its first scandal attributed to failures, explains Georges Prevelakis to franceinfo. “Another train accident, but also the great fire of 2018, exposed the weaknesses of the administration, details the specialist, and led the current government to carry out reforms, mainly in the public services.” A laborious policy which is however struggling to bear fruit. “There has been significant progress with the digitalization of the administration, but it takes a long time, emphasizes Georges Prevelakis. And in the meantime, there are crises that break out because the work is not complete.”
Between 2010 and 2018, Greece experienced three financial bailouts that forced it to take drastic austerity measures. Salaries, retirement pensions, hiring in the public have been reduced, in addition to the freezing of the budgets of the administrations.
Last August, the country finally came out of the sights of the European Commission, which was watching it closely. But these austerity policies had serious social consequences, and led to several general strike movements, against a backdrop of the rise of the far right. The tragedy of February 28 “revives the debates (…) on the need for far-reaching reforms”, analyzes Georges Prevelakis. It should weigh on the next legislative elections in Greece, scheduled for mid-year.