Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis presided over a meeting held at Megaros Maximos with the representatives of OSE, ERGOSE and Hellenic Train regarding the restart of the railways.
During the meeting, the restart schedule with additional security measures, the strict adherence to the schedule for the implementation of the signaling and remote control contract, the thorough inspection of the infrastructure and the reinforcement of OSE and ERGOSE with personnel were discussed. Related announcements will be made today, Tuesday afternoon, by the Minister of State, also responsible for Infrastructure and Transport Matters, Giorgos Gerapetritis.
At the beginning of the meeting the Prime Minister stated:
"Good morning, first of all, let me wish you strength in the difficult task you are undertaking as the new Presidents and CEOs of OSE and ERGOSE.
I wanted to meet today, together with the representatives of Hellenic Train, to state in the most categorical way that the restructuring of our railways is not just a universal demand of Greek society, but is now also a personal bet of mine and that it is also the content of the assumption of political responsibility on my part. It is a recognition of long-term pathogenesis that led to this accident, but it is also a refusal to capitulate to the causes that caused it. And with these causes we have all declared war and this war we must win.
My purpose is to encourage you in the difficult task before you. You receive two wounded Organizations, let's not kid ourselves, who need to get back on their feet. And as we have said together with the Minister and as I expect you to announce today, the first priority is a safe - I emphasize safe - plan for the immediate reopening of our railways, possibly as you indicate to us with a limited transport load, but with as much as possible more additional safeguards for the protection and safety of passengers, but also of those who work on our trains.
And of course, the second defining priority that primarily concerns ERGOSE but also the OSE with which we must cooperate, as well as Hellenic Train, is the acceleration of the complete installation of the remote control system in the central axis of the country.
I believe it is your duty to lift the morale of the workers and I believe they too should become the face of the new renewed face of our trains. We heard dialogues that provoke both anger and shame. I personally refuse to believe that they are the norm, but even as exceptions they have unfortunately cost lives and therefore no such behavior can be tolerated anymore.
And I also believe that soon the conclusion of the Committee of Experts, as well as the technical assistance we have requested from the European Union, will allow us to draw up a medium- and long-term plan for the railways already in 2030.
We have a lot of work to do. I believe we have the know-how. We will also find additional expertise from the European Union. We will secure the resources that are necessary to be able as a country to have the trains we deserve. And to emphasize at this point, that it is very important for me the trains and the lines we have, to ensure that they will operate in absolute safety before we discuss future extensions of our trains. I think that should be the main concern. As of course to ensure that the OSE has a stable funding in order to be able to maintain its lines in the way that is required for our own rail network.
Finally, I want you to know that I am not going to treat this issue as an area of partisan controversy. Our opponent here, too, is the deep state of anachronism, which unfortunately has manifested itself in our railways with greater intensity possibly than in other areas of public administration. We must fight those islands that resist modernization. We have to fight - and I say this directly - our own bad self.
We need everyone's cooperation and support. You know very well that both the Minister of State, who has assumed the duties with the first and foremost task of reorganizing our railways, and I, will be by your side. We don't have much time at our disposal and I think we all have to push ourselves so that we can achieve the goal that we have set."
The Presidents and CEOs of OSE Panagiotis Terezakis and ERGOSE Christos Palios and the CEO of Hellenic Train Maurizio Capotorto participated in the meeting.
On the part of the Government, the Minister of State, also responsible for Infrastructure and Transport Giorgos Gerapetritis, the Minister of State Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister Yiannis Bratakos, the Deputy Minister to the Prime Minister and Government Spokesman Yiannis Oikonomou and the Director of Press Office of the Prime Minister Dimitris Tsiodras.
Source: First Topic