Greek PM apologises for deadly train crash, promises to fix railways

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized on Thursday for a train crash that killed 57 people, promising to fix long-standing deficiencies in the railway sector and to provide financial support for victims’ families.

A passenger train with 350 people on board, most of them university students, collided with a cargo train in central Greece on February 28 in the country’s deadliest rail disaster.

“I want to reiterate a public apology on behalf of those who ruled the country over the years, and mainly personally,” Mitsotakis said during a cabinet meeting. “I assume responsibility.”

The crash has stirred public outrage and protests against a political system which has repeatedly ignored calls by railway unions to install and maintain digital safety systems and hire more staff.

The government, which was initially planning to call elections in coming weeks as its term ends in July, has blamed the crash mainly on human error but has also acknowledged deficiencies mainly due to underinvestment and neglect – a legacy of Greece’s debt crisis.

He said that more than 270 million euros would be invested in railway reform and pledged to hire more staff and improve safety by installing digital control systems along the railway network by the end of August.

“It is important to give room to sorrow and anger. But we should not allow it to become a spark that will cause divisions,” he said, just before another planned rally by university students in Athens.

Source: Reuters