Hellenic Railways

An attempt will be made on Wednesday to resume operation of the railway network at Tempe, central Greece, which was cut last weekend due to a severe storm that hit Greece, the head of Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) which operates the rail network, said on Tuesday.

Hellenic Railways (OSE), the company responsible for the country's national rail network, is inspecting lighting signals and other safety systems after an Intercity train stopped just 1.5 kilometers short of colliding with a stationary suburban railway train in Pieria in northern Greece on Monday.

Two railway boxcars used to transport Thessaloniki Jews to their deaths at the Nazi extermination camp at Auschwitz during the German occupation are being restored at the initiative of a 93-year-old former Hellenic Railways (OSE) director whose uncle, aunt and cousins were among those deported to the camps.

The new administration of Hellenic Railways (OSE) has proposed measures to consolidate the safety of the rail network's routes and infrastructure, including the establishment of a railway police, along the lines of other European states.

The Athens Prosecutor's Office is prosecuting two inspectors at the National Transparency Authority concerning the investigation into the delayed implementation of Contract 717 of ERGOSE, the projects branch of Hellenic Railways (OSE), which has been causally linked with the railway collision in Tempe in central Greece in February 2023 that cost the lives of 57 people.

About eight months after a severe storm in the Thessaly region of central Greece flooded the region, restoration of the damaged Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) network in the area is facing significant delays. 

Two more Hellenic Railways (OSE) officials accused of delays in implementing a contract for the rail network's signaling and remote command were released Thursday on large bail amounts.

Five people, most of them senior managers at state-run Hellenic Railways Organisation (OSE) which operates the rail network, gained access to the organization's audio files from the night of the train collision at Tempe in the early hours of March 1, 2023, railway executives told Kathimerini on condition of anonymity.

The third defendant to testify before the European Public Prosecutor's Greek representative on Tempe-related contract 717 has been released on bail of €700,000.

The defendant, who was an official at ERGOSE, the projects branch of Hellenic Railways (OSE), is also banned from leaving the country.

A former railway chief has told the parliamentary inquiry into the deadly Tempe railway collision that when the general railway traffic code is not being followed by personnel, "no [electronic safety] system can save you."