RR station master remanded in custody after deposition over deadly train collision

A railroad station master who mistakenly, by his own admission, switched a passenger train onto the path of an ongoing freight train, which resulted in Greece’s worst-ever rail disaster on Tuesday, concluded his testimony before an investigating magistrate on Sunday evening.

The 59-year-old man, an employee of the state-run railways infrastructure operator known as OSE, was subsequently ordered held in remand, following a ruling by the magistrate and a relevant prosecutor.

His defense attorney later referred to an expected development, while adding that his client answered all of the questions he was asked and is cooperating with authorities in trying to shed light on the disaster.
In preliminary statements to police in the days after the collision, the station master, who was based in the central city of Larissa, reportedly admitted to erroneously switching one train into the path of the other.

The official death toll, as of Sunday evening, remained at 57, although the figure is expected rise with the identification of some victims’ remains. Roughly 350 passengers were on the north-bound train that collided with a south-bound freight train at 23.20 (21.20 GMT) on Sunday evening, north of Larissa.

The first indication is that human error was responsible for the collision, although a large stretch of the sole north-south rail axis in the country has no electronic monitoring, communications or signaling systems, despite billions of euros in national and EU resources set aside for the rail networks’ modernization. Additionally, Greece’s railroads are continuously vandalized by thieves stealing metal cables and other equipment.