(Athènes) Le régulateur grec des chemins de fer (RAS) a constaté de « sérieux » manquements dans la sécurité de la gestion du réseau ferroviaire, en particulier dans la formation « inadéquate » des employés de l’Organisme ferroviaire grec (OSE), a-t-il annoncé vendredi.
Plus de deux semaines après la collision frontale entre deux trains qui a fait 57 morts, cette autorité indépendante a souligné que selon ses premières conclusions, « la formation du personnel par l’OSE [qui gère le réseau ferré, NDLR] was incomplete and therefore inadequate”, in particular that of the station masters.
After investigating the “training of staff in the traffic sector which included the station master involved in the accident”, the regulator found that it “could not be proven” that he had completed ” their theoretical and practical training.
The station manager of Larissa, a town close to the deadly accident, is in pre-trial detention after admitting his responsibility for the accident on the evening of February 28.
It was this 59-year-old man, presented as inexperienced by the Greek authorities, who allegedly made the mistake of letting a passenger train and a freight convoy run on the same track for several kilometers without reacting, causing a head-on collision between both trains.
He was charged five days after the crash while three other OSE employees are also being charged.
The RAS decided “unanimously to take emergency action due to serious indications of violation of railway law, which poses a serious threat to public safety”, according to the press release.
In addition to the responsibility of this station master, the dilapidated state of the rail network, the delays in the modernization of signaling and security systems, have been singled out to explain this rail disaster which has raised a wave of indignation in Greece.
