Thirty-six people will stand trial in Greece for a deadly head-on collision between two trains in 2023 that sparked protests and cast a spotlight on the country’s outdated railways, a judicial source said Monday.
Greece’s former top railway regulator, an ex-rail company executive and the station master on duty the night of the February 28, 2023 crash are among those who will face trial for the disaster, which killed 57 people.
The appeals court in the city of Larissa in central Greece approved a prosecutor’s request for the 36 to stand trial on charges including involuntary manslaughter and negligence, the source told AFP.
No date has been set, but the trial will likely be closely followed given the level of outrage provoked by the fatal collision, which also injured hundreds of people.
There have been regular protests in Greece attended by hundreds of thousands of people demanding justice.
Among those standing trial is Vassilis Samaras, the Larissa station master on duty at the time.
Inexperienced and alone that evening, Samaras immediately admitted to making mistakes, and has already spent around 18 months in pre-trial detention.
Just before midnight that night, a freight train and a passenger train travelling between Athens and Thessaloniki in the north collided near Larissa, after running on the same track for several minutes without triggering any alarm system.
An investigation quickly revealed woeful deficiencies in the outdated railway network and signalling system.
Others standing trial include the former president of the Regulatory Authority for Railways, a former executive of the railway company OSE which is responsible for network maintenance, and senior transport ministry officials.
The court will also prosecute two executives of Italian passenger transport company Hellenic Train for minor offences, the source said.
In June, the Greek parliament launched a probe into the possible responsibility of then transport minister Kostas Karamanlis, who resigned the day after the tragedy.
The father of one of the victims has been on hunger strike outside parliament in Athens for nearly two weeks.
Source: AFP
