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Larissa, Greece: Freight train collides with passenger train (01/03/2023)

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antharro

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Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64806678
At least 36 people died and dozens more were injured in the head-on collision between two trains near the city of Larissa on Tuesday night.
The front carriages of a passenger train involved were mostly destroyed.
The passenger train had been travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki when it crashed head-on with the other freight train, causing the front carriages to burst into flames, shortly before midnight local time.
At the time of writing, 26 dead, dozens injured. 17 fire appliances at the scene.

RIP to those who have gone and who won't make it.
 
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jamesontheroad

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I travelled Thessaloniki - Athens on Sunday afternoon, so this has shaken me up even more than I expected.

According to the Guardian the passenger train departed Athens at 19:30 on Monday, which means it was IC62: a locomotive hauled train of nine carriages. First class would like likely have been in the north/front and second class back/rear.
 

dgl

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The BBC news article,
By Alys Davies
BBC News

At least 32 people have died and dozens more injured after two trains collided in northern Greece, emergency services say.
A train said to be carrying around 350 passengers hit a freight train travelling in the opposite direction near the city of Larissa late on Tuesday night.
Rescuers have been working through the night to find survivors, the fire service said.
The cause of the crash is not known.
The passenger train had been travelling from Athens to the northern city of Thessaloniki when it crashed head-on with the other train, leading to a fire in at least one of the carriages.
One survivor described how the carriage he was in was engulfed in flames as it rolled over following the crash.
"We heard a big bang," passenger Stergios Minenis was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"It was a nightmarish 10 seconds. We were turning over in the carriage until we fell on our sides and until the commotion stopped. Then there was panic. Cables, fire. The fire was immediate. As we were turning over we were being burned. Fire was right and left," Mr Minenis said.
"For 10, 15 seconds it was chaos. Tumbling over, fires, cables hanging, broken windows, people screaming, people trapped."
Another passenger named Angelos Tsiamouras told local media the crash had felt like an earthquake.
"It was a very powerful collision," the regional governor of the Thessaly region, Kostas Agorastos, told state-run television.
"This is a terrible night... It's hard to describe the scene."
Footage of the collision's aftermath showed thick plumes of smoke rising from derailed carriages. At least one of them was completely crushed.
Around 150 firefighters and 40 ambulances were at the scene, the fire service said.
Conditions for rescue workers were "very difficult" because of "the severity of the collision", fire service spokesman Vassilis Varthakoyiannis told reporters.
"I've never seen anything like this in my entire life. It's tragic. Five hours later, we are finding bodies," an exhausted rescuer emerging from the wreckage told AFP news agency.
"We are living through a tragedy. We are pulling out people alive, injured... there are dead. We are going to be here all night, until we finish, until we find the last person," another volunteer rescue worker told ERT state broadcaster in comments cited by Reuters.

My thoughts go out to those involved, the pictures of one of the locos shows the devastation and the force if impact there must have been.
 

jamesontheroad

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According to one of the eyewitness reports from a rescuer interviewed on Greek state television, the first three carriages “don’t exist” (my translation). The force of the impact and the subsequent fire completely destroyed them. If it was the normal configuration of an IC rake, that includes two first class and one restaurant car.
 

stuu

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Terrible news, but given the line is not fully signalled, not all that surprising
 

ac6000cw

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Terrible news, but given the line is not fully signalled, not all that surprising
Yes, terrible news.

The actual crash location appears to be here, near Evangelismos - https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B050'54.0%22N+22%C2%B031'00.0%22E/@39.8469533,22.5123084,16z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d39.8483333!4d22.5166667?hl=en

It appears from photos of the crash scene and maps of the area that the line is double-track, so the obvious question is how did both trains end up on the same track - are both tracks bi-directionally signalled (or otherwise normally operated as such), or was one closed for maintenance etc. so that temporary single-line working was in use?
 

MarcVD

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Terrible news, but given the line is not fully signalled, not all that surprising
Looks like one of the tracks was out of service so all traffic took place on the other track. And with the integrated signaling system not fully operational (hasn't been for years, apparently) any minor glitch while applying backup procedures can lead to a catastrophe.
 

MadCommuter

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Terrible incident. Now 36 dead.

I wondered if it had been a rear end collision of the freight train. But if it was single line working and a head on, that explains the sheer tragedy seen in the media.
 

stuu

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Yes, terrible news.

The actual crash location appears to be here, near Evangelismos - https://www.google.com/maps/place/39%C2%B050'54.0%22N+22%C2%B031'00.0%22E/@39.8469533,22.5123084,16z/data=!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d39.8483333!4d22.5166667?hl=en

It appears from photos of the crash scene and maps of the area that the line is double-track, so the obvious question is how did both trains end up on the same track - are both tracks bi-directionally signalled (or otherwise normally operated as such), or was one closed for maintenance etc. so that temporary single-line working was in use?
The line had no full signalling, some had been left to decay and others run by train orders rather than proper signalling. It is having ETCS fitted but I don't believe it is operational over much/any of the route. I'd be astonished if that section had operational bi/di signalling
 

ac6000cw

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The line had no full signalling, some had been left to decay and others run by train orders rather than proper signalling. It is having ETCS fitted but I don't believe it is operational over much/any of the route. I'd be astonished if that section had operational bi/di signalling
After a bit of virtual wandering around the area, this image on Google streetview (in the vicinity of where the crash occurred) shows a pair of modern looking 'lights on sticks' (looks like one per track with bi-directional capability as they are both facing the same direction) - https://www.google.com/maps/@39.846...807&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=en

Whether the signalling was fully functional at the time is another matter...
 

AndrewE

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The Guardian reports that
The passenger train is operated by the Italian group Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, which according to its website is the main provider of rail transport for passengers and freight in Greece and runs 342 passenger and commercial routes a day.
 

LNW-GW Joint

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Presumably the passenger train was operated by TrainOSE, now owned by FS/Trenitalia.
I was under the impression Athens-Thessaloniki services were operated by EMUs, with ETR470s (ex-Cisalpino) operating two daily fast services.
But this is clearly a classic loco-hauled service.
Some sections of the overall route are completely new, while others have been realigned and upgraded.

The ETR470s were introduced nearly a year ago, and Railway Gazette then said ETCS was expected to be operating over the full route in 2023.
ETR470 tilting trainsets which were formerly used on Cisalpino services from Italy to Switzerland entered passenger service in Greece on May 15, operating two trains a day in each direction between Thessaloniki and Athens.
The journey time on the 502 km route is just under 4 h including a single stop at Larissa, compared to a fastest timing for the locomotive hauled services of 4 h 13 min with nine intermediate stops. ETCS is expected to be available on the full route from 2023, enabling the journey time to be cut to 3 h 15 min or 3 h 30 min, depending on the number of stops.
 

Gag Halfrunt

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I was under the impression Athens-Thessaloniki services were operated by EMUs, with ETR470s (ex-Cisalpino) operating two daily fast services.
But this is clearly a classic loco-hauled service.

The ETR 470s are the only EMUs for long distance services in Greece. Athens-Thessaloniki services were formerly operated with class 520 DMUs, but after the line was electrified they were replaced with locomotive-hauled trains.

(The link is to the Railfaneurope.net table of TRAINOSE stock, which describes class 520 as "former InterCity trains for the Athens-Thessaloniki line".)
 
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I travelled Thessaloniki - Athens on Sunday afternoon, so this has shaken me up even more than I expected.

According to the Guardian the passenger train departed Athens at 19:30 on Monday, which means it was IC62: a locomotive hauled train of nine carriages. First class would like likely have been in the north/front and second class back/rear.

I think it departed Tuesday evening from Athens.

Could it have been a later train than 19.30 as the crash happened just before midnight and someone said its about 4 hours from Athens to Thessaloniki and the crash was quite a way before Thessaloniki. Maybe it was running late which might have some bearing on the reason if there had been problems with track/signalling. Just speculation of course.

I've been on that line many years ago.

Thoughts and prayers with all those involved.
 

whale

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Presumably the passenger train was operated by TrainOSE, now owned by FS/Trenitalia.
I was under the impression Athens-Thessaloniki services were operated by EMUs, with ETR470s (ex-Cisalpino) operating two daily fast services.
But this is clearly a classic loco-hauled service.
Some sections of the overall route are completely new, while others have been realigned and upgraded.

The ETR470s were introduced nearly a year ago, and Railway Gazette then said ETCS was expected to be operating over the full route in 2023.
I too was under the impression that this route was operated by the ETR trains, so was rather disappointed when a locomotive with coaches in a really shoddy condition rocked up in Athens last year on the 15.30 to Thess, the very same loco that looks to have been involved in the incident last night (022). Looks like they’ve only got two ETR diagrams operating on the route, or at least I think that was the case last summer. The journey just seemed so strange, a high speed (ish) alignment with some clear investment in big viaducts and tunnels bypassing the old route, but a painfully slow average speed, and we stopped for ages, seemingly with emergency brakes, in remote locations for no obvious reason. Reading on here that the line is ‘not fully signalled’ is just sad, and it’s such a tragedy that this has happened. All thoughts with those involved.
 

duesselmartin

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I think "not fully signalled" means that ETCS is not im operation yet. The low average speed could be down to the older signalling system.
Investment is Greece's railway has always been poor. Second hand stock not unusual. Upgrading that line was the single biggest investment in the last 100 years.
 

Watershed

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I too was under the impression that this route was operated by the ETR trains, so was rather disappointed when a locomotive with coaches in a really shoddy condition rocked up in Athens last year on the 15.30 to Thess, the very same loco that looks to have been involved in the incident last night (022). Looks like they’ve only got two ETR diagrams operating on the route, or at least I think that was the case last summer. The journey just seemed so strange, a high speed (ish) alignment with some clear investment in big viaducts and tunnels bypassing the old route, but a painfully slow average speed, and we stopped for ages, seemingly with emergency brakes, in remote locations for no obvious reason. Reading on here that the line is ‘not fully signalled’ is just sad, and it’s such a tragedy that this has happened. All thoughts with those involved.
Same here - it was an utterly bizarre journey when I did it a couple of years ago. About half or two thirds on dedicated new-build high speed infrastructure, yet so few services that we didn't pass a single other train between Athens and Larissa! It could frankly all have been built single track given how poorly it's utilised.

This sounds like a very unfortunate case of human error during single line working...
 

Quakkerillo

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I think "not fully signalled" means that ETCS is not im operation yet. The low average speed could be down to the older signalling system.
Investment is Greece's railway has always been poor. Second hand stock not unusual. Upgrading that line was the single biggest investment in the last 100 years.
On the Dutch news, it's saying that there is in some parts basically no functioning system, and that local railway staff have to set things themselves, without properly working electrical information/signalling system. Orders are apparently often passed on by radio between the station staff and the trains when the systems are once again failing, so it is possible that this was basically an 'unsignalled verbally controlled' situation. If this is indeed as the report on the NOS news says, then that's a huge failing of the system as well as any potential personal error that led to this incident.
 

USRailFan

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Looks like both trains must've been doing line speed or close to it, given how crushed and mangled especially the one 120 is, and the fact that two carriages are described as "no more in existence"...
 

infobleep

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The BBC are reporting the Station Msster has been charged with manslaughter by negligence The person arrested is claiming a possible technical error is the cause.

Station master charged with manslaughter by negligence​

We're just hearing now the station master of the city of Larissa has been charged with manslaughter by negligence.
Police say the 59-year-old has also been charged with grievous bodily harm by negligence.
The station master, who is in charge of signalling, denies any wrongdoing and has blamed the accident on a possible technical failure.
Investigators are trying to find out why the two trains were on the same track when they crashed near Larissa.
 

LAX54

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We moan in the UK, when there is a failure, and everthing is delayed, whilst things / instructions are checked and double checked, but its a good job they are.
 

TomG

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For Moderators...this is from BBC news.

Station master charged with manslaughter by negligence​

We're just hearing now the station master of the city of Larissa has been charged with manslaughter by negligence.
Police say the 59-year-old has also been charged with grievous bodily harm by negligence.
The station master, who is in charge of signalling, denies any wrongdoing and has blamed the accident on a possible technical failure.
Investigators are trying to find out why the two trains were on the same track when they crashed near Larissa.
 
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stuu

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Can someone explain what "not fully signalled" means?
Literally no signalling. Instructions by radio/telephone. Someone must have made a mistake for this to happen, but the fact that it was allowed to operate in that condition is a failure of the state, no matter who made the fateful error
 

62484GlenLyon

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I see from the BBC pictures that the line is electrified. Does anybody know what the current and voltage is, please?
 

Taunton

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Seems some similarity to the Amtrak accident in South Carolina a few years ago, with fully interlocked signalling seemingly installed (photo above) but out of use, and things being done by radio commands which are mishandled somehow along the line.
 
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