The deadliest Greek rail accident on record killed 57 people and exposed systemic failures in Greek railway safety infrastructure.
Key Facts
- Deaths
- 57 people
- Seriously injured
- 81 people
- Lightly injured
- 99 people
- People on both trains
- 354 people
- Officials implicated
- 43 state officials
- Most serious European rail accident since
- 2013 Santiago de Compostela derailment
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Greek railways lacked modern safety systems, including the European Train Control System and centralized traffic control. These upgrades had not been implemented despite requirements, and station masters and Hellenic Train officials failed in their operational duties, allowing two trains to be routed onto the same track.
On 28 February 2023, the InterCity 62 passenger train and an intermodal freight train collided head-on south of the Tempe Valley in the Thessaly region of Greece. The collision caused a derailment and a fireball, killing 57 people, seriously injuring 81, and lightly injuring 99 among the estimated 354 people aboard both trains.
Transport Minister Kostas Karamanlis resigned in the aftermath, and railway workers staged strikes across Greece. Criminal investigations implicated 43 state officials, with accusations of accident-site tampering also raised. Victim families and bar associations conducted independent evidence-gathering, an unusual development in Greek legal culture, with trial estimated no earlier than late 2025.