The 2022 train accident that foretold the Tempe tragedy

On the afternoon of January 24, 2022 - that is 13 months before the deadly railway disaster at Tempe last year - engine trouble brought the InterCity 54 passenger train to a halt about a kilometer and a half from Livadia station in the middle of a snowstorm.

The weather was too wild for the passengers to leave the train and be transported by bus, so a second locomotive was dispatched to the location some two hours later to clear the tracks and get the InterCity moving again. It was 7.45 p.m. when the locomotive crashed into the train because it was going too fast. At least six passengers were injured in the impact, none seriously, thankfully.

The incident was deemed serious and the Regulatory Authority for Railways (RAS) carried out an investigation. Its findings were compiled in a report published in May 2023 and which has been seen by Kathimerini. The events that...