EU Commission Unveils Proposal to Modernize Greek Railroads After Nation's Deadliest Train Collision

ATHENS (Sputnik) - A commission of the EU, which arrived in Athens following a train crash in the country earlier this month, has presented proposals to Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on the modernization of railroads in Greece, the prime minister's office said on Wednesday.

On March 1, a passenger train collided with a freight train near the city of Larissa. The passenger train had switched to the freight train's lane before the accident, which brought them both on the same track and resulted in a head-on collision.

The Greek police said that 57 people had been killed and 48 others had been injured in the accident. The incident sparked mass protests in Athens, prompting police to use force and carry out detentions, as well as resulted in the arrest of the head of the Larissa station and the resignation of Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Kostas Karamanlis.

"Members of the European mission presented the Prime Minister with their first thoughts, which will take the form of concrete proposals to improve the rail network and transport safety, modernize infrastructure, introduce best practices and better use of European resources for investment in the Greek railroads," the office said in the statement.

Mitsotakis underscored that Greece was making full use of the knowledge and experience of the European services in the course of the fully transparent investigation into the accident, the office added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke with Mitsotakis over the phone on February 6 and pledged to provide technical support to modernize the Greek railroads and improve their safety. She said the European commission and the European Union Agency for Railways' (ERA) experts would travel to Greece to investigate the incident. ERA concluded that the Greek authorities were responsible for the train crash.