For the tragedy at Tempe the government is to blame to the extent it is responsible for, the Minister of Development emphasized, among others, to ERT Adonis Georgiades.
“The day before yesterday in America, in Ohio, two trains collided again, which had collided again a month ago. What does it mean; That America is not a good country? Or that Biden should go? I want to finally see it in its proper dimension. Is the current government to blame? It’s his fault. To what extent is it to blame? To the extent that he did not manage to finish in 4 years what the previous ones did not manage in 25.
Yes, we are to blame, is the answer now and to apologize and kneel down from the Greek citizens and especially from the parents. What to say to the parents now them, whatever to say to the parents… whatever to say, fall down and apologize to them on your knees. This is what you should do. But, but, let’s put it in its proper dimension. On the other hand, Mr. Kouvaras, we cannot say “what does it matter if the station master made a mistake?”. But someone made a mistake there,” stressed Mr. Georgiadis, adding that he considers the placement of an “inexperienced station master on this shift” more of a mistake.
To the question why the government did not implement the telematics project from 2019 to 2023, Mr. Georgiadis replied that the government implemented 70% and “the remaining 30% remains”. In the follow-up question “if you knew that the train is not safe because this 30% is missing, why don’t you at least ensure by conventional means to guarantee safety at this point?”, Mr. Georgiadis accepted that the project would be much better to was over, he noted however that “trains can operate safely and without telematics”, as they have operated for a century and as “they still operate in 24 countries in Europe”.
“There is no accident that does not involve human error – if there is no human error, there is no accident, any accident you see in history there is human error” and that mistakes are also made with telematics, said Mr. Georgiadis.
When asked why the government had ignored all the workers’ complaints about railway safety, after admitting that the “complaints have been persistent and continuous throughout the last 15 years”, Mr Georgiadis expressed the view that “the workers also have their their share of responsibility for the state of the OSE” and wondered: “So if you have a station master, an inexperienced station master who got his certification 15-20 days ago, did the minister or the government put him on shift in Larissa?”.
He also pointed out that in the Tempe accident the station master made “not one, but three consecutive mistakes”, emphasizing at the same time that in Larissa, where the accident occurred, a local telematics system is operating.
“And I say three mistakes because a lot of people say, ‘well, so if he makes a mistake in one key we’re going to get killed?’ This question is correct. Here he did not make a mistake in a key. Do you want me to tell you three in a row? In Larissa, a complete electronic system operated, as if telematics for all of Greece and the part of Larissa and 5.5 km ahead, where he put the automatic system, turned the key in the automatic system and took the train by itself to the right track without the controller doing anything. If he flipped the switch to automatic, the train would go to the right side by itself. Decided to go with it manually. He misplaced the key, second mistake. Third mistake: After misplacing the key, he turned on the light bulb on the table and sat on the light bulb for 12.5 minutes and did not see it. Is this the fault of the prime minister?”, asked Mr. Georgiadis, adding a little later that the man who placed the Stathmarchis in this position is a trade unionist of PASOK.
“The defense line of this particular person (the station master) is that he had also put two others, and that they did not go, one left earlier and the other did not go at all. I do not know it. It may be so. If so, he is right to apologize to him and seek to see those who did not go. I do not know him. But I know that this inexperienced station master was placed in this particular position by some official, by some employee of the OSE and indeed a trade unionist, and indeed of PASOK. And here the following inimitable thing has happened.
The PASOK trade unionist who called the stationmaster in Larissa when he saw the accident, went to a PASOK MP candidate doctor and took a month’s sick leave over the phone,” said Mr. Georgiadis, revealing that the doctor in question will be on holiday tomorrow and that the reason he gave sick leave is that “if you have sick leave, they can’t put you on holiday, you can’t be called to an apology, they can’t put you on anything. So he put him on holiday for a month, on sick leave to see what happens in 1 month if the case is settled. This is the Greece we don’t want. Is this the Greece we want?”, stressed Mr. Georgiadis.
The article Georgiadis for Tempi: The government is to blame to the extent that is attributable to it was published on NewsIT .
