Almost two years after the tragic railway accident that cost the lives of 57 people and scared Greek society, the puzzle pieces seem to fall into place. Investigations suggest that the freight train and its load played a critical role in the accident, which was either underestimated or obscured.
Some facts about the accident:
Head-on collision: The accident involved a high-speed, head-on collision between a passenger and a freight train on the same track.
Obsolete railway network: The railway network was outdated, relied on manual operations, and lacked crucial digital safety systems like ERTMS and ETCS.
Untrained and understaffed personnel: Railway personnel were insufficiently trained and understaffed, jeopardising safety.
Ignored warnings: Warnings from worker unions about operational failures and safety concerns were ignored. The EU also launched inquiries into railway funding and undelivered contracts for signalling infrastructure.
The perfect storm for disaster: The combination of these factors created the conditions for a fatal accident.
Further investigation: The investigation into the accident revealed mishandling of evidence at the collision site and missing information about the freight train’s cargo.
Not concrete enough
Questions about the tons of concrete poured over the accident’s site while investigations were ongoing were framed as conspiracy theories and political levers during the two years of investigations following the accident.
According to official governmental sources, the accident site was covered with concrete a few days after the collision, and while investigations were at full steam, in an attempt to stabilise the ground and pave the way for the railway line’s reopening.
However, police officials involved in the case have recently claimed (or at least their testimonies have recently been publicised) that they were pressured by government officials to implement this decision despite firmly believing that pouring concrete at the accident site would hinder investigations. As a result, the governmental narrative does not seem concrete enough regarding certain decisions that were made and implemented and provides space for further speculation concerning the motives behind the use of concrete.
The fire
Experts divide the accident into two parts: the first is the head-on collision of the two trains, which occurred due to the lack of proper signalling and communication infrastructure. The second is the fire that broke out right after the collision.
Recent research findings suggest that multiple of the deceased passengers lost their lives due to the fire and not the collision itself. However, one question remains: how did a fire of such a scale break out?
Initially, government and police officials claimed that the fire was caused by the combination of the crash, sparks from the electric infrastructure, and flammable materials, such as oils, found in the trains’ engines. However, experts suggest that even this perfect storm would not be enough for such a large-scale and fatal fire and that the causes were still to be found elsewhere.
All evidence suggested something wrong with the freight train, a viewpoint deemed conspiratory initially. Information disseminated via governmental circles quoting Hellenic Train, the Greek passenger and freight operator owned by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, claimed that there was nothing suspicious with the freight train’s composition, that all cargo was registered correctly, and that chances were low for the cargo to have contributed in the large fire.
Evidence falls into place
Nevertheless, evidence, or better yet, the lack thereof in the first place, suggested otherwise. As a matter of fact, there was no clear information regarding the composition of the freight train, while video material used for the cargo identification did not include the loading of the freight train’s first wagon after the locomotive, which is the wagon in question.
That was the situation until a few days ago when new visual evidence emerged. Yet-to-be-verified footage from a business next to a train station that the train crossed before the accident shows that the open wagon in question was carrying a tank storing hydrocarbons, probably xylene. If this is the case, then it becomes clear that the cargo, which was not registered and thus transported illegally, contributed significantly to the accident’s extent and the loss of passenger lives.
An investigation carried out by the University of Ghent at the request of the Greek Air and Railway Accident Investigation Committee (EODASAAM) also supports this evidence. The Belgian University found that the first wagon of the freight train probably carried between 3.5 and 4 tons of flammable liquids in a tank measuring 1 by 2.5 metres.
More to come
All the above suggests that there’s more to discover in the case. Was the freight train’s load deliberately obscured? Was the decision to pour concrete at the accident site an attempt to distract investigations from the freight train?
“I shared all the information I had at hand, for which Hellenic Train is responsible,” stated the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in a televised interview last week.
At the same time, the former Hellenic Train CEO Maurizio Capotorto is being investigated again as part of a preliminary investigation on the grounds of giving false testimony regarding the freight train’s composition.
All evidence surfacing still needs to be verified, and more developments are expected as investigations leading to the accident’s court case unfold.