Dieser Beitrag ist mittlerweile auch auf deutsch verfügbar: Warum das griechische Zugunglück auch ein europäisches Versagen ist

Von Eurydice Bersi, reportersunited.gr. 10.3.2023:
„French contractor, Italian-owned trains, EU policies: Greek crash was also a European failure
Greece is reeling from the worst train accident in its history. A joint investigation with our partner IE uncovers new details about the true extent of the failings and mismanagement of those involved.

Even though the EU has declared 2021 the ‘Year of Rail’, Europe’s railways are more a patchwork than a network. EU countries still invest significantly more money in road than rail, despite the urgent need for more climate-friendly transportation. The cross-border investigation by Investigate Europe and Reporters United.

The horrific head-on train collision in Greece last week, with a provisional death toll of 57, was a disaster waiting to happen.

Late in the evening on 28 February, nobody noticed a passenger train and freight train racing towards each other, on the same track near Tempi, in central Greece, for an entire 12 minutes. The Larissa station master, who made the fatal mistake, is a 59-year-old former porter who received training last year. He had limited help from a partially functioning control system that only revealed the location of trains around Larissa, but went blind once they ventured a few kilometres out of the city.

As the country is consumed by grief and rage of unseen proportions, with protests taking place nationwide, there is a European dimension to the question: how could such a tragedy occur?

Staffing levels at the Greek railways are well below those required for the safe operation of the network. Also, the split between rail and passenger services, a precondition for privatisation, has led to a breakdown of security coordination. The first is a direct consequence of the policies imposed on the country by its EU creditors since 2010. The second stems from the EU Commission’s insistence on the separation of track and rail operations.“ weiterlesen