Speaking about the fatal night at Tempe and progress in remote control systems since 2019, Konstantinos Kyranakis revealed another mistake made by the stationmaster on that same evening. Speaking on the “Nea” vidcast “Face 2 Face,” he characteristically said that “the stationmaster, two hours before putting the fatal train on the wrong track, had put a previous train also on the wrong track.”
Speaking specifically about the railway, he said: “There can be safety valves that eliminate human error, and this is our main goal: To be able to have not one, but multiple safety valves against potential human errors. First, let’s clarify something about trains and all means of transport in Greece and on the planet. Mass transportation is safe when all safety rules are religiously followed. This obviously becomes increasingly feasible under conditions of digital systems and safety valves that come and advance with technology. That is, there is continuous upgrading. But we must always know that behind these systems there are people who must have proper training, high sense of duty, good reflexes, and this is the new doctrine we apply at OSE. I remind you that in 2019 – not many people know this – the remote control system now known to everyone was at 1% of the line,” Mr. Kyranakis said among other things.
Regarding the Tempe tragedy and specifically the fatal night, he mentioned: “What people don’t know, however, what hasn’t become widely known, is that the stationmaster, two hours before putting the fatal train on the wrong track, had put a previous train also on the wrong track. Simply there, a safety valve functioned. What was this safety valve? That the train driver performed the check required by protocol to see if he really should travel on this track or the normal one, and the mistake was found, thus preventing a tragedy two hours earlier. So I really wonder about the supervisors of that day, who knew they were dealing with a newly appointed stationmaster who was obviously completely unsuitable, but left their positions before the shift ended, left him alone, and the next day, to cover their tracks, erased them with correction fluid. This era of correction fluid, then, with the safety valves we have changed and brought, is over.”
Mr. Kyranakis clarified: “Where there is remote control and where there is signaling connected to this system, stationmasters do not operate manually.”
“In ’19 we were at 1%, today we are at 80%. By summer ’26, that is, in six months, we will be at 100% on the Athens-Thessaloniki route. This means that stationmasters, who have only the general traffic regulation in their hands and make manual communications, so to speak, will not have the first say in traffic. The first say will be with the automatic routing of remote control, which, however, is also done by a person. So he too has the necessary training, has the necessary protocols and must also be at his post.”
Kyranakis on Athens traffic and truck ban measure 07:00-10:00: “A series of changes must be made in supply”
The discussion extended to the issue of traffic congestion in the capital. Journalist Katerina Panagopoulou referred to measures the ministry is considering, including the possible ban on heavy vehicle traffic from 7:00 to 10:00 AM on the National Highway, asking for clarification on whether this is a decided measure.
Mr. Kyranakis replied: “It’s a proposal on the table, one of many we have submitted, because Athenians really suffer a lot both in the morning going to work and in the afternoon or evening returning to their families. I understand that this mental fatigue for Athenians is now unbearable, we have reached a dead end.
To be able to implement the 07:00 to 10:00 ban, a series of changes must be made in supply. The goal is for basic supply to happen at night, hours before 07:00, so citizens don’t experience a traffic heart attack.”
Regarding Kifissos, Mr. Kyranakis stated that “it was designed as a peripheral national highway and not as part of urban mobility,” noting that overloading by trucks significantly burdens traffic.
