Deadly train crash in Greece prompts safety worries, strikes

Striking labor unions disrupted mass transit in Greece on Wednesday to protest the deaths of 57 people in the country’s worst train disaster, which exposed major safety deficiencies.

The strikes halted ferries to the islands and shut down bus and trolley car service in Athens, where thousands were expected to attend union-organized protests against the government. Subways ran for a few hours to allow people to get to the demonstration.

A passenger train slammed into an oncoming freight carrier near the northern Greek town of Tempe on February 28, killing dozens of passengers, including many university students, in burning rail cars.

A stationmaster accused of placing the trains traveling in different directions on the same track has been charged with negligent homicide and other offenses.

But revelations of serious safety gaps on Greece’s busiest rail line have put the center-right government of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the defensive. He has pledged the government’s full with a judicial inquiry into the crash.

Senior officials from a European Union railway agency were expected in Athens as part of promised assistance to help Greece improve railway safety. The agency in the past publicly highlighted delays in Greece’s implementation of safety measures.

Safety experts from Germany also were expected to travel to Greece to help advise the government, Greek Transport Minister George Gerapetritis said.

“I, too, would express my anguish and heartbreak over what happened in Tempe. This is an unprecedented national tragedy, which has scarred us all because of the magnitude of the tragedy: this unjustified loss of a great number of our fellow human beings,” Gerapetritis said.

He acknowledged major omissions in safety procedures on the night of the crash. Strikes have halted all national rail services since the collision occurred.

Wednesday’s protests were also backed by striking civil servants’ associations, including those representing school teachers and state hospital workers, and groups marking International Women’s Day.

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