Greek minister Giorgos Gerapetritis, who is responsible for infrastructure and transport, discussed a possible collaboration with the European Commission over the official investigation of what caused the Tempi railway tragedy, Ekathimerini has reported.
The collaboration will also work towards building a safer railway framework and Greece will receive technical assistance from the EU Commission in developing the railways’ capabilities and structural organisation.
This news comes after Gerapetritis held meetings in Brussels with Cohesion and Reforms Commissioner Elisa Ferreira, Transport Commissioner Adina Valean, and Bjoern Seibert, who is the office director of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
According to the Minister, Greek authorities will continue working with the Commission to monitor the electronic upgrade of European Railway Traffic Management System (ERTMS) projects, including the signaling and remote-control systems.
He said that contracts must be completed by the end of September 2023 on the Athens-Thessaloniki main axis, and shared his hopes that automatic braking systems (European Train Control System, ETCS) will also be completed by that time.
Staffing of the railways with specialised workers, and enriching the country’s recently created air and rail accident investigation authority with specialists, will also be topics of the Greece-EU collaboration.
Finally, Gerapetritis said Greece will officially request that both the European Union Agency for Railways (ERA) and the European Commission become actively involved in the investigation regarding the causes of the rail tragedy.
Source: Amna, ekathimerini
