The Greek railway system in trouble again, this time because of storm “Ianos”

The Greek railway has been experiencing trouble again lately, despite the efforts made to upgrade it to a competitive means of transport.

On the occasion of the recent troubles caused by storm “Ianos” in Central Greece, the enduring weaknesses of the Greek railway system resurfaced, although railway as a medium of transport had improved a lot during the last couple of years.

Today, almost 2.5 weeks after the disaster and the itineraries between Athens and Thessaloniki are carried out again with terms of… 2017. Despite the great efforts made by OSE to open the line, in the section Liakokladi-Paleofarsalos the electric drive is not working at the moment. The Athens-Thessaloniki itineraries are underway with a change of engine in Paleofarsalos, causing delays in the itineraries, bringing memories from the old fashioned railway.

According to information, the reason is that due to “Ianos” the substation in Paleofarsalos flooded, causing extensive damage to existing equipment which was taken out of operation. According to the same sources, OSE crews are there on a daily basis and work intensively but at the moment no specific date can be given for the reopening of the substation.

The solution to the problem is trying to be brought through the operation of another substation in the area of Anthili. For this, there is a constant request for its operation (for almost two years) from TRAINOSE and PEPE (the Panhellenic Association of Traction Personnel). According to information, a meeting will be held today between the Management of ERGOSE and the consortium that has undertaken the project of completion of the Tithorea-Lianokladi-Domokos section. The purpose is to complete any remaining work and to operate the substation in the immediate future.

As everything shows, the temporary inconvenience of the passengers will continue in the next few days, until the works at the two substations are completed. Of course it is not the only route that has been affected.

Problems in other places as well

“Ianos” also caused problems on the Paleofarsalos-Kalampaka line, which remains out of operation. In a recent announcement, OSE has given a re-opening schedule, on October 9 for the section up to Karditsa and until the end of the month for the line to Kalambaka to operate.

According to sources, there are pending issues in Thriasio. There, as they report, despite the fact that since mid-2019 the electric drive has been completed and some tests had been carried out, the area was not “electrified”, which means that until today the routes are carried out with diesel trains.

There are also issues on the Kiato-Aigio line, as the same sources note the key, at the point where we had the derailment of the train remains problematic, with the drivers having to use bypasses.

To all the pending issues we must add the absence so far of a tender for the regular maintenance of the basic network, a project which would radically upgrade the image and operation of rail transport.