The Tempe disaster – is Greece continuing to struggle with modernisation?

By Panagiotis Klotsas

Protests erupted in Greece on the second anniversary of the Tempe Rail Disaster that left 57 people dead. Photograph: Vaggelis Kousioras/AP

The Prime Minister Harilaos Trikoupis (1832-1896) is widely hailed in Greece as an emblematic figure in the modernisation of the small Greek state, with his efforts to expand the railway network and promote political reform. Yet was he to examine Greece’s rail network today, it is likely he would feel his effort was futile: his Korinthos-Kalamata line is no longer in operation, and the “operational” Greek network struggles to complete train journeys even on its busiest line, the Athens-Thessaloniki line.

the same issues that plagued the network then have not gone away

Throughout recent decades, the Greek railway network has struggled to compete with motorways for passengers, due to an assortment of factors including its geography, prices and chronic organisational mismanagement. Moreover, people are discouraged by frequent accidents, often ending in fatalities. On the 30th September 1968, two trains crashed in Derveni, Korinthia region, killing 34 passengers and wounding over 100 people. Over 50 years later at Tempe, on the 28th February 2023, again two trains collided, killing 57 people and wounding 180. The two disasters are eerily similar. The problem being, the same issues that plagued the network then have not gone away.

Greece’s national railway operator, OSE, is often considered the flagship of the corruption endemic in the Greek public sector. It is notable that although OSE’s debt was written off in 1990 when Greece sought to, once again, reform its railways to align with other European countries, by 2010 OSE’s debt had ballooned to €10 billion, or 4% of Greece’s entire GDP. Paul Thomsen, an IMF negotiator during Greece’s debt crisis, reportedly shouted: “shut it down!” when reading OSE’s financial statements for the previous years. 

The European average of 2 employees per kilometre of track corresponds to just 0.5 per kilometre in Greece

It is these events that came to a head in the latest rounds of protests across Greece on the 28th February, with over 1 million taking to the streets around the country, with over 500,000 in Athens alone. The latest round of protests was sparked by a report produced by the Transport Accidents Regulator, published on the 27th February. In the 176-page report, numerous failings are mentioned, including an inability of Greek railways to maintain its network, with vandalism commonplace and measures in place to tackle the issue either non-existent or inadequate. Furthermore, it detailed systemic problems such as the practice of hiring unqualified personnel for complicated tasks, such as handling the European Train Control System, responsible for long-

distance control of trains and making sure they maintain safe braking distances. The European average of 2 employees per kilometre of track corresponds to just 0.5 per kilometre in Greece, highlighting the systemic issue. Anger over the injustice of the loss of 57, predominantly student, lives has continued to cause outbursts of dissatisfaction in Greek society, tired of the corruption and complacency. Two years having passed and the rail network is still in the same condition, with the government seemingly unable to deal with the crux of the problem. 

Despite this environment, the current centre-right Mitsotakis administration has been credited with some successful reforms, especially in the realm of digitisation and modernisation of the public sector. The new gov.gr wallet has been downloaded over 5.2 million times, with thousands of transactions and bureaucratic processes happening online, with the new ministry of Digitisation planning to completely digitise all processes within the following years. Greece’s national energy provider also saw its debt fall from over € 3 billion in 2018 to ~ € 900 million by early 2022, due to partial privatisation and reform of its priorities, with a renewed emphasis on entering the global energy market and renewables.

Although the ruling party, the New Democracy, is seeing relatively low support in the polls, the opposition is also struggling to make itself heard, due to fragmentation and public mistrust. The most recent poll by the company MRB places New Democracy at 26.7%, with the next two parties PASOK, centre-left, and Plefsi Eleftherias, far-left, seeing a combined support share of 27.4%, similar to New Democracy. With 2 more years left until elections, it remains unclear if New Democracy can maintain its popularity to once again win a majority. If it wishes to do so however, it is imperative it aggressively tackles the systemic issues Greece has suffered from for decades.  

Photograph: Vaggelis Kousioras/AP