On the 28th of February 2025 there are going to be possibly the largest ever protests everywhere in Greece. Protests many of us are hoping will result in the collapse of the government.
The reason for the protests is the well know Tempi Train Disaster (crime) that happened exactly two years ago on 28th February 2023.
The picture above is of the protest in Syntagma on 26/1/25
Two years later and justice is a long way from being served. It has become blatantly obvious that the government has been trying to cover up and bury the issue, unsuccesfully though.
Why cover it up, is the obvious question.
In the past months we have been inundated with more and more evidence and proof that something seriously wrong happened there and that it goes beyond the mere “mistake” of a local station controller.
I will try my best to piece together a series of events, so that my english speaking friends might better understand why we are where we are.
On the night of 28th February 2023 a passenger train, the Intercity 62, left Athens for Thessaloniki carrying 352 passengers and staff. At the same time, more or less, a freight train left Thessaloniki for Athens. It was carrying as far as the cargo manifests are concerned, metal sheets, containers, food, and beer.
After a delay in Paleofarsala the Northbound passenger train set off again and in Larissa station it was switched over to the Southbound track by mistake. This put it on a collision course with the Southbound freight train coming the other way. For twelve minutes the trains headed towards each other until the crashed head on just outside the Tempi tunnel.
As the Intercity 62 left Larissa train station there were lights showing red, (meaning danger) but because the system has been out of operation for years they were diregarded.
The controller who switched them over was new on the job, inexperienced, alone, and overworked as there is a lack of staff and he had been on 5 consecutive night shifts. He was also significantly older than new controllers should be, but had managed to get his job due to a loophole in the rules.
Also, significantly, Greek trains are not runnig the European-mandated system of ETCS, which allows all trains to be monitored in real-time and routed automatically. This system also stops trains when they heading towards each other for example. The Greek train system was supposed to have had this since 2016, then it was postponed to 2020 and finally to the end of 2023, too late. Train staff syndicates had repeatedly warned of impending disaster, but to no avail. So the system was non-operational. There are significant political responsibilities for this, going back more than one government.
When the trains crashed,
within seconds a fireball erupted and engulfed the first two train
carriages, burning to death nearly all those who had survived the
crash with only injuries. The total victims were 57, 23 of which were aged
15-25. It is estimated that 30 0f them died of the ensuing fire.
It is now coming to light, by eye-witness reports and reports from the survivors that the rescue effort was very poorly organised. The ambulances arrived but there were no doctors. Many of the survivors were helped out by other passengers. Police on the site, apparently just stood and watched. Some survivors walked out onto the main highway above the tracks and got lifts by passers by to Thessaloniki, Buses were arranged to take survivors to Thessaloniki, many of them with light injuries but there wre only two ambulances on stand by at the station.
And of course there is the issue of the fireball and ensuing fire. It burned so hot that many bodies were totally charred, meaning the fire potentially reached 1300 degrees Centigrade.
Because the two carriages were on top of each other cranes had to be brought in to lift them. The rescue services did not enter the carriages before they were lifted. Hence the “rescue” effort, or rather collection of remains was not concluded until 3 days later. At this point carriages had already started to be removed to another site.
Meanwhile a Deputy Minister to the PM was already there from the first hours, giving orders, one of which was to remove the topsoil from the area to a depth of up to three meters in some cases and take it away. Within a few days this was not only done but they had then filled the area with rubble and cemented it over.No forensic team checked anything before all this was done. There are many reports from firemen who suffered chemical burns, many also said there was a terrible smell of something between petrol and alcohol, also one of the families whose daughter had ben burnt was given a bag with her shoes in it and they reeked of something chemical.
Soon people started saying that there must have been something on the cargo train that caused the fire.The PM who had taken it upon himself to announce on TV what was going on, came out in an interview and denied any possibillity that something else had contributed to the fire. Instead he insisted it was to do with the cooling oils that the train condensers have in them. He had obviously been badly informed as these silicon based oils are essentially not flammable, one of the reasons they are used.
The parents and relatives of the people lost, got together and asked to have their own forensic experts. They also asked to see the video of the loading of the freight train. But it turned out the video had been scrubbed because two weeks had gone by and no one had asked for it.
During the first couple of weeks after the accident, two people died in apparently unrelated circumastances, one of them the Central train controller for Greece and the other a nearby Station manager.
The regional governor of Thessaly Mr Agorastos who gave the order for the ceenting of the are was sued. In charge of his case was a DA named Sofia Apostolaki. Her 39 yr old son went missing after last Christmas and was found today, dead and in a state of advanced decomposition. Nothing has been said yet about how he died.
Gong back to the fireball, one of the forenic experts working for the families, Mr Kokotsakis has stated that there was definitely some kind of chemical that fuelled the fire, potentially xylol or toluol. It was more than likely being carried illegally as part of some contraband ring.
All the evidence is shouting “Cover-Up”. To make matters worse, when for almost two years they said there was no video, suddenly some video turns up, interestingly two or three days after the PM said in another interview, “he wished some video would turn up to show that nothing suspicious is going on” He also stated in this interview that he only said what he had been told previously.
At the time of the crash, the Transport Minister Mr Kostas Karamanls, had resigned, but then a few days later he said he was running for MP again and this was accepted by the PM, Mr Mitsotakis. Mr Karamanlis belongs to one of the 4-5 big political families running Greece since before WWII and Mr Mitsotakis could not afford to lose their support. To geve you an idea we have had two Kostas Karamanlis' as Prime ministers already.
The head of Greek
Parliament, Mr Tasoulas was also accused of “burying” evidence of
wrongdoing and hiding it from the parliamentary enquiry committee. In
exchange for his “services” he has now been made the President of
Greece, a cushy little retirement job as decorative Head of State.The parlamentary inquiry found nothing of importance to show any responsibility of politicians.
The government lackeys, press and various party officials are all trying their best to discredit the efforts on behalf of the parents and relatives.
The above is in my opinion the most striking of the images created in the aftermath of the disaster. It shows the bars of the greek flag disjointed and at weird angles copying the way the train ended up. The meanings run deep.
Head of the Parents and Relatives organisation is Mrs Maria Karystianou who lost her daughter in the crash. She has been working tirelessly to get the Greek Justice system to do the right thing.
She has stated, repeatedly, that she will not stop until everyone responsible is in jail.
You know, in greek society, we often joke about the Greek Mother, and many of you who may have seen Mu big Fat Greek Wedding or Shirley Valentine. Will probalby know what I mean. She is a bit like the Jewish mother and probably most “Ethnic” mothers all over the world.
Greece has a tremendous corruption problem, Since the crisis when the Troika and the IMF enforced cutbacks in state spending, everything that is of any importance, like transport, health and education has been underfunded and consequently understaffed and ill equipped.
But the pockets of the politicians are being lined constantly. Grrece is in need of a big clearout of political rubbish (politicians)
And so it is that a Greek Mother will do this. It falls upon Mrs Karystianou and also the parents of the other kids lost to lead the way in this effort.
I know that Greeks feel very strongly about this situation because family is very important here. There is nothing more sacred than our chidren.
My daughter used to take that train when sh was studying in the area. It makes me feel that this disaster struck very close to home. Something has got to change.
I expect a lot of people to go out on the streets on the 28th, easily a million. I for one will be defintely there.
UPDATE: 18th Feb 2025. I have decided I will keep adding stuff here as I find it or it comes up. The big picture of this gigantic scandal is constantly evolving, blooming like a giant mushroom cloud.
A big part of the issue is the privatisation of the trains in Greece. This was doen in a similar way to the UK, they sold the trains themsleves to an Italian owned company called Hellnic Train (and it is the state train company of Italy behind it) and left the tracks and infrastructure to a greek company called ERGOSE. As of last year they were supposed to have 2100 organic positions for staff, organic meaning absolutely essential. They have less than half. So they have been hiring. That is how the station controller who made the terble mistake got his job. And now we are told that the woman responsible for hiring him has been pu in charge of all hiring for the whole organisation!! She is in fact under investigation as she has been officially charged with malpractice for hiring him even though he was over the age limit.
UPDATE 2 (same day) Hellenic Train is receiving a state subsidy form the Greek government of 60,9 million euros for services rendered during 2023, the year of the train disaster. People die, but the money keeps flowing.
