Just five months ago, in October 2022, the Panhellenic Union of Traction Staff had sent a letter to OSE, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, Hellenic Train and the Railway Regulatory Authority, complaining about the poor state of the railway network, the lack of maintenance and the traffic lights that don't work but it seems that the exodus ended up in the drawers or even worse in the wastebasket.

In fact, they requested that the extrajudicial be answered in writing and to the ministry... they answered using their... invisible typewriter, that is, they never answered.

It is worth noting that 5 billion have been spent in France and in the last 20 years THEY HAVE A RAILWAY while in Greece over 15 billion have been spent and the railway is a JOKE.

We should also note that in every possible way, the Unions of Engine Drivers had also warned about the need for immediate interventions in the dissolved railway network of the OSE. In addition to the public interventions of Union members, there have also been resignations and the sending of an extrajudicial order, so as to disturb both the Organization and the Mitsotakis government.

The Panhellenic Union of Traction Personnel had even highlighted the three derailments that had taken place during that time, in Tithorea on August 1st, in Lianokladi on October 10th and in Tithorea again on the 21st of the same month.

The trial court states the following:

EXODIKO TO OSE, Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, RAS and Hellenic Train.

It is with regret/concern that we inform you, that despite our constant remarks, our protests and above all our constant calls for the restoration of intensifying problems of the railway network, that -unfortunately- the fears of injuries that we had expressed to you have been confirmed.

We constantly observe the poor condition of the railway infrastructure, its lack of maintenance (which is evidenced by the laziness that is given to train drivers every day), the non-functioning of traffic lights and remote control for many years, the non-functioning of the ETCS (European Traffic Control System whose commissioning protects against human error) which never worked despite being installed on the machines!.

We also note the following:

The non-functioning of telematics at the stations, as a result of which there is no information to the passenger public about delays and changes in routes and passengers get angry and attack the train drivers!.

We also see the closure of stations in regional cities due to a lack of stationmasters, which creates problems for trains and the density of routes.

The incomplete fencing of the infrastructure, resulting in easy access to pedestrians in many places, as a result of which there is a constant loss of human life .

The dense vegetation near the infrastructure that limits visibility and even covers track signals, the non-functioning of security and lighting systems inside the tunnels in the Athens Suburban (Megara) for 15 years (!) and also the inability to communicate when a train is in them!

The non-maintenance of the electrification network which results in delays in the routes, while on October 25, 2022, our train driver was injured and hospitalized (he even received a 7-day sick leave from the above work accident), as the Suburban Athens train (number . 1534) ran into hanging live power lines!.

Proof of the above and the poor condition of the infrastructure are the 3 derailments in the space of 2 months!!

A) August 1, 2022 derailment of 1521 in Tithorea, B) October 10, 2022 derailment of a suburban train in Lianokladi, C) October 21, 2022 derailment of 882 in the area of ​​Tithorea.

The result of all this is that the railway is discredited, despite the anxious efforts of the train drivers, but also of the company HellenicTrain which runs buses to serve the passenger public after each incident.

Following the above, given that the limits of tolerance of working train drivers have been exhausted, we hereby express our strong protest and opposition to the problems that have already been identified, and we invite you to immediately repair the aforementioned problems in the railway infrastructure.

We strongly protest the threatened disruption to our health and safety due to the network problems and urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure our health and safety.

We also invite you to explain to us in writing, within 15 days from the notification of this, the measures you intend to take. We inform you that we intend to initiate mobilizations from the notification of the present for all the above reasons.

Competent Judicial Bailiff is ordered to deliver this to those to whom it is addressed.

Athens, October 31, 2022"

The lack of modern GPS systems from the railway that would show exactly where each train is was revealed on OPEN TV by the secretary of GSEE, Nikos Kioutsoukis.

" Crime with railway projects is timeless " said the secretary of the GSEE and added " let me remind you that since 1975 our country has been fighting to reach a high-speed network, up to 200 km, when in other countries they are fighting for 500. With a double line , PATHE axis, where it has not been completed for years, while the modern GPS systems have not been installed yet, they do not work" . In fact, as he revealed, " some have been bought long ago, since 2000".

The GSEE secretary further stated that “I cannot fathom that we have the only railway transport company privatised, the only railway repair company privatised, and that OSE does not have the money required to maintain its network. It is not a current phenomenon, it is eternal and the responsibility of all governments was this".

A picture is worth a thousand words: Follow pronews.gr on Instagram to "see" the real world! In addition, he underlined that " the money that has been spent is too much. For example, in France 5 billion have been spent while here over 15 billion have been spent and we don't have a railway."