Passenger rail service between Athens, Thessaloniki resumes with greater safety measures in place

The first passenger train from Athens to Thessaloniki completed its route on Monday, 34 days after a deadly train collision just south of the Tempi Valley Gorge in north-central Greece claimed 57 lives.

The slightly more than 300-kilometer route was completed in a less than spectacular six hours, with a half hour delay in the process.

In stark contrast to the evening of Feb. 28, 2023, this time the north-bound Hellenic Train locomotive and carriages ran along the correct tracks. The unprecedented collision was the result, by all accounts, of a junior station master erroneously switching a north-bound passenger train onto the tracks of an on-coming south-bound freight train. However, decades of neglect, mismanagement, poor training and systemic vandalism were subsequently cited as reasons by no backup systems were in place or activated to prevent a head-on train collision in Greece’s paltry – by European standards – rail network.

Some 100 passengers were on the revived rail service on Monday, along with two train engineers and an attendant, as well as an instruction to keep the maximum speed at 100 kilometers, down from a previous top speed of 160.