Hellenic Railways Organization

"You don't brake in time," says the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), "You don't pick up the trees from the tracks," Hellenic Train replies, as Kathimerini understands.

"The infrastructure is problematic," argues Hellenic Train, "the trains are not maintained, they have breakdowns," OSE claims.

Two executives of ERGOSE, the projects branch of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), were ordered to post a 600,000-euro and 500,000-euro bail, respectively, before being released from jail on Thursday as part of a European probe into a deadly train collision last year, and specifically the implementation of Contract 717 for the automatic operation and signaling of the railway network. 

The cross-party parliamentary committee investigating the causes of the deadly train collision in Tempe, central Greece in February 2023 ended its sessions on Monday with each party submitting its own conclusions. Monday's tumultuous session was followed by acrimonious exchanges between the parties whose representatives participated in the committee.

Three new bills, in addition to the new fiscal framework, are being prepared for submission to Parliament within 2024, National Economy and Finance Minister Kostis Hatzidakis revealed on Tuesday, while speaking at the Real Investment Summit 2024.

TV crews gather outside an Athens courthouse for the first trial on Friday concerning a lawsuit filed by relatives of a victim of the Tempe train crash, Greece's deadliest, in late February 2023. The trial was adjourned until April 5.

Train drivers have consistently reported their concern about trees falling on railway tracks and the danger this entails for everyone concerned.

The problem, they say, remains unresolved as regional authorities, the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) and forest agencies constantly bicker over who is responsible for removing trees.

The testimony of the CEO of Hellenic Train, Maurizio Capotorto, has been forwarded to the competent prosecutor's office by the Parliament committee probing the deadly train collision in February 2023 in Tempe, central Greece, to investigate the possibility of perjury. 

Rail authorities have ordered an investigation into the collision of a train with a tree in the eastern outskirts of Thessaloniki in which a driver was slightly injured by broken glass.

A single agency will be set up to manage the railway infrastructure in Greece by incorporating the three subsidiaries of state-run Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE), the Infrastructure and Transport Ministry has said.

After a disastrous year for railways, with the deadly Tempe collision and Storm Daniel floods, the Ministry of Transport, in collaboration with European institutions, is looking into the creation of a new public body, with the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) as its core.