A prosecutor in the ongoing trial over Greece’s deadliest train crash will rule on Tuesday on various requests tabled by the lawyers of the victims, including on whether to upgrade the charges against two of the defendants.
Last week, lawyer Damianos Balassoulis told the Larissa court that two former senior officials of rail operator Hellenic Train should face felony charges of dangerous interference with fixed-track transportation, for which 33 out of a total of 36 defendants have also been charged.
The then CEO and technical director of the company were referred only for misdemeanors, including multiple counts of serial negligent homicide, for omissions related to the operation of the GSMR-R communication system on the trains.
The prosecutor will also announce her decision on whether to ask the relevant bodies to submit the emails exchanged between the Ministry of Transport and the Greek railway company, the maintenance firm and the operator – OSE, ERGOSE and Hellenic Train, respectively – concerning stalled Contract 717, a €41 million EU-funded project to modernize Greece’s rail network, for the period 2021-2023.
Failure to carry out signaling and other work foreseen in the tender has been causally linked to the 2023 railway collision in central that cost the lives of 57 people.
