The tragedy of human error? The tragedy of the train collision in Greece, the safety sequelae of the national debt crisis and the reduction of manpower

"This is one of the worst train accidents in the history of Greece, and it is also a sequela of austerity since the European debt crisis..." The serious train collision accident at midnight on February 28, local time in Greece, currently known to have killed at least 43 people , most of them students, dozens of others were injured, and 50 to 60 people have not been found. The Greek fire department is still at the scene of the accident to rescue. Although a local station master was arrested for manslaughter after the incident, the grieving Greek public opinion pays more attention to the long-standing railway problems in the country, including the manpower caused by the national debt crisis. Seriously insufficient, extremely backward infrastructure, etc., the Greek Minister of Transport resigned after inspecting the site. He pointed out that the Greek railway network is "defective and does not meet the standards of the 21st century." Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also said The cause of the accident was "tragic human error".

The collision occurred just before midnight on February 28, 2023, when a train carrying 342 passengers departed from Athens for Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki) in northern Greece. A freight train heading south from Thessaloniki collided head-on on the same railway. The local governor, Kostas Agorastos, pointed out that the first four carriages of the passenger train were derailed due to the impact, and the front two carriages were derailed. caught fire and "almost completely destroyed".

The remains of 43 victims were sent to the neighboring Larrisa General Hospital. Roubini Leondari, a forensic doctor, said most of them were young people who had been burnt beyond recognition. DNA samples were required from their families for identification. The Greek media "ERT" reported that all crew members of the passenger train were killed. Most of the casualties found so far were found in the derailed third carriage.

The search and rescue operation dispatched at least 150 firefighters, used 17 cars and 4 cranes, and about 40 ambulances were on standby at the scene. The accident car was distorted by the impact and scorched steel plates were scattered everywhere. Rescuers used heavy machinery to remove the car fragments , found remains or stumps, one of the members of the rescue team, Nikos Zygouris, expressed pessimistically: "It is unlikely to find any more survivors, we can only hope."

The Greek fire department pointed out that as of the evening of March 1 local time, 57 injured people were still hospitalized for treatment, of which 6 were still under observation in the ICU, and 15 others had been discharged. More than 200 uninjured or only slightly injured passengers on the train were taken to Thessaloniki, 130 kilometers away from the accident site, to assist in the investigation. The police used this to clarify the passenger list and track down the missing persons whose whereabouts are unknown.

One of the survivors said in an interview with the Associated Press: "Our car did not derail, but the one in front did and was hit." So the survivor broke out the window of the car he was traveling in to escape, and another survivor Said that he was thrown out of the window by the force of the impact after the train hit. One of them told the Greek media "ANA-MPA":

"A lot of the passengers didn't know what happened because they were all asleep... I was asleep at the time, and suddenly the impact woke me up. When we realized what happened, we were in a hurry. Get out of the car, and when you get out, you see chaos."

The destination of the accident passenger train, Thessaloniki, is the second largest city in Greece. It has 2 national universities and the number of students ranks first in Greece. Most of the passengers killed on the train were students. The date of the accident was in late February in Greece. After the Orthodox Carnival in , these students boarded the train back to school after participating in the festivities, but unfortunately encountered an accident.

Greek Prime Minister Mitsotakis announced the lowering of the flag at half-mast and a three-day period of national mourning. A comprehensive independent investigation, he said: "There is only one thing I can guarantee: we will find out what caused the tragedy and we will do everything in our power so that nothing like it will ever happen again."

Mitsotakis also said that when he visited the Larissa hospital, the families of the victims and the missing asked about the cause of the accident with grief. He also promised to review the long-delayed railway construction projects in Greece.

Transport Minister Costas Karamanlis has announced his resignation. He also emphasized that the Greek railways have been suffering for a long time. Maybe pretend it didn't happen and turn a blind eye to many railway problems. Karamanlis said he was stepping down to "show respect for those who died so unjustly" and to "take responsibility for the historical mistakes of the Greek state and political system."

After the accident, the station master in Larissa was arrested on charges of negligent death and large-scale injury. The authorities did not disclose the name of the station master. The station master is 59 years old and has more than 40 years of work experience. He is responsible for the command of the accident railway section. Signal, but he denied wrongdoing while directing and blamed the accident on a possible technical glitch.

The specific cause of the accident is still under investigation. The "Guardian" pointed out that investigators must first clarify whether the railway signals are operating normally, is it human error or other reasons that caused the two trains to collide on the same track?

Greek public opinion is concerned about the long-term railway problems. Nikos Tsikalakis, head of the Railway Workers Association, said that the Greek railways are not only severely understaffed for a long time, but also have extremely backward facilities. He said:

"The country has clearly stipulated that there should be 2,100 workers on the national railways, but today there are only 750 people serving the railway system in Greece. The train station masters must communicate with each other to coordinate and dispatch, but the actual situation cannot be achieved. Everything should be more automated. "

The train collision accident also directly reflects the economic sequelae since the European debt crisis. The European debt crisis broke out in 2009, and Greece fell into the brink of national economic turmoil . At that time, the Athens government was forced to implement a series of austerity policies and fiscal reforms since 2010 in order to obtain emergency assistance from the European Union, the European Central Bank and the IMF. By adjusting Greece's structurally poor financial system, it will be able to secure bailout funds and get rid of its notoriety as a "Pig Country".

However, with these reforms to save the debt crisis, from 2010 to 2018, the Greek government directly slashed various budgets and social welfare expenditures in order to cut expenditures, and the country's economy has also declined sharply. The youth unemployment rate in Greece soared to 60% in 2013 and 2014. During the 8 years of strict austerity measures, nearly 400,000 Greek youths chose to stay away from their hometowns and go abroad to find job opportunities, forming a crisis of brain drain among the young generation.

After 2018, Greece ended its 8-year bailout plan. Although it temporarily got rid of the national debt bankruptcy crisis and the economy recovered slowly, the bailout fund of nearly 300 billion euros in borrowing still needs to be paid. Faced with the pressure of debt repayment before 2060, it will affect Greece's austerity measures after that.

The railway system was also affected by the European debt crisis more than ten years ago. At that time, Greece privatized many public enterprises in order to avoid economic collapse. The company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane took over the private sector – after which the situation of underinvestment in the Greek railways is still bad. Earlier this month, railway unions blasted the current Greek government, and "all previous governments" for failing to prioritize citizens' transport safety.

However, the "Guardian" commented that the railway section where the accident occurred runs between the Greek capital and the second largest city. When many small railway networks in Greece are closed, this section is one of the few major traffic arteries that has received investment and has been electrified. Although the cause of the accident still needs further investigation, Greek public opinion has long been ignited over the railway issue. Former Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said on Twitter:

"Now is the time to mourn and care for the wounded, the families of the dead, but soon we will be asking the Greek parliament the fundamental question: another terrible tragedy caused by the privatization of the railways."

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