Train crash in Greece

A terrible situation and we will not know the cause until the accident has been investigated properly, but I cannot see any sense or justice in having arrested the unfortunate station-master.

A similar event occurred in Germany some years ago - same thing, head-on collision on a single-track line so arrest a relatively low-ranking local official as a scapegoat, without making any attempt to ask the right questions.


The Greek railways people and others there have been blaming it on lack of money, lack of maintenance and a failure to "modernise" the railway system.

The first yes, in Greece. The second maybe, in both nations. The third No. Understandable reaction, but No. In both Greece and Germany. Why? No excuse!


Interlocked systems and rules for safe two-way working on single-track railways, with very high protection against human error, were established in Britain - the country that invented the public goods and passenger railways - [i]in the Nineteenth Century[/i]!

So were similar systems established in Germany and Greece, and if not why not?

If they had been, the incident would have needed the driver of the conflicting train to ignore a signal at Stop; but then he might well have derailed his train on the points set for the oncoming train, perhaps only just beyond the station.


In the UK system the waiting driver would also not be in possession of the "token", a special key that is a part of the signalling system as well as a symbol of right-of-way. The rightful driver coming the other way would have it. This means the signals can't be switched in mid-trip.

This was all established [i]well over 100 years ago[/i] and with not a computer in sight (that's why it works). Nor, crucially, trust in staff alone; because the [i]Victorian[/i] railways companies and Government had already found to their cost that people can make mistakes with terrible consequences, so had done something positive about it.

Besides, even if the station-master waves the train away the driver must still obey the signal in front of him. A signal that would fail-safe so will say "Wait!" even if it is red or shows nothing, due to a fault. In fact I think they all default to "Stop", coming "off" (Go) only to allow a train to proceed along a clear line.

Many British railway-stations with long and curving platforms have signal repeaters to show the station staff or the train guard the aspect of a signal itself visible only to the driver. So they would know when the train is ready for departure, and can indicate it is, but that the driver still obeys the signals.

Meanwhile the signalling-centres (which replaced most local signal-boxes) all know where each train is, its type and the service, and where it is going. (The driver can't choose the route, but he must know it very thoroughly.)


Questions for the Inquiry to establish....

....

On a wider question, it is all too easy for the "authorities" and politicians to expect to blame and prosecute someone unable to defend him or herself easily, especially in a area bound by deeply technical matters. A similar travesty of justice occurred some years ago (early-2000s?) when Italy prosecuted the head of their national geological service for "failing" to predict the severity of an earthquake properly - it was a lot more destructive than he'd warned. I don't know the outcome of that case but it hinged on the legal types not understanding that earthquakes are notoriously, virtually impossible to predict in time and power.

Buttplug in Greece?