Mechanical engineer. Resident of Thessaloniki. Former train driver, resigned in July 2024.
I started the job on 1 July 2019 as a trainee driver. Before that, I had no connection to the railway. I saw the advert, found the profession interesting, submitted my papers and got in as an alternate from the 2018 intake — they had taken 70 people then. A year later, we got in, 13 of us, as alternates.
I had some connection to travel. My father was a professional truck driver, and, I don’t know, I liked it. At the time, I was working in construction, doing electrical work, so I saw it as an opportunity, especially since our degrees aren’t really recognised in Greece. As it happened, they took me — which I wasn’t expecting, because I had been rejected in the first round. But extra positions came up, maybe due to poor planning based on available posts, and they took 13 more people for the Thessaloniki-Alexandroupoli line.
I think I did my first route as a trainee in early March 2020, around the time of the first lockdown, and then we were shut in for 2-3 months. It was the Thessaloniki-Florina line. A beautiful route, but also difficult. It passes through villages, plains, agricultural areas, but it also has many level crossings with the road network. I managed somehow, with the instructor beside me. Because at first you go as an observer and then you start driving.
In general, I don’t think the stress ever goes away in this job. Because it’s a huge responsibility. Anyone who says they’re not stressed is probably doing something wrong. Of course, it’s manageable stress, not the kind that stops you from working.
The truth is, we learned to work on this broken system, the “Windows operating system”, so to speak. But as you gained experience, you understood what the mistakes were, what shouldn’t be that way. I believe after two years –that is, when you’ve been a driver for about a year, because the first year is mostly training– that’s when you gradually start to see the problems. The same ones that, unfortunately, all of society learned about.
The lack of systems, the overwork in many areas, the poor maintenance of the network, the inadequate maintenance of rolling stock. These were topics of discussion among colleagues and within the unions. There was concern, and it was expressed in writing as well
On the day of the Tempi crash, I had worked in the morning. I had taken a local route to Edessa and come back. So, I wasn’t working at that time, I was at home. We found out through a Viber conversation among colleagues, from someone who was in Larissa and said something had happened near the PAOK memorial. I distinctly remember he mentioned a fire and a derailment. Our minds went to unrelated things. Before anything was confirmed, we started calling each other, checking who was on shift. All the phones were dead. That’s when our fears were confirmed.
At that moment, there were no comments, no taking it a step further. We didn’t even know what had happened. How did this happen? There was only: “The guys are gone; they have been killed.” We couldn’t believe it. No matter how much you see it coming or suspect it, when it happens, you don’t want to believe it. Five fellow drivers lost in a second. It’s extreme. You can’t — no matter how much it’s been on your mind. And I believe that the possibility of something of this magnitude happening was on very few people’s minds.
That same night, I went to the depot. I couldn’t sleep. Other colleagues gathered there too. The depot is our base, so to speak — where you report for work. I was there around 2 am. People had gathered. I’ll never forget this scene: They were getting calls from Athens asking if there was a driver available to take a freight route to Eidomeni. At 4 in the morning. I witnessed that phone call.
No one went. Two trains that had been overnighting –one in Florina and one in Drama, if I remember correctly– were brought back. No train moved from the Thessaloniki depot, at least not that day.
At the depot, I saw the palest faces I have ever seen in my life. That was in those first few days. Everyone thought the same thing: it could have been us, any one of us. If one line in the Excel spreadsheet of the shift roster changed, one box, one name — any one of us could have been the one on that service. The worst fear of a train driver –globally, I imagine– is that thing: to see a light coming towards you on your line. The thing those guys saw that night. Because you can’t turn, to put it simply.
I think the first thoughts of resignation came later, when trains restarted. They restarted with exactly the same people, in exactly the same positions, with the same systems — with the same lack of systems
We could see that the authorities were just making PR moves — nothing was actually changing. And it felt almost as if they didn't want things to change. They adopted a punitive stance towards drivers, sometimes justified, sometimes excessive. In contrast to station masters, who enjoyed the favour of the government and the political system.
There was also a clause in our contracts that we had to stay for five years, because the company pays for all the training to Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE): around 20,000-25,000 euros to get your licence. Abroad, some companies deduct it from your salary afterwards. Here, the company paid everything, but told you that you had to stay five years, otherwise you would have to pay back a proportional amount.
I couldn’t afford that. At the same time, some colleagues and I tried to write reports, to point out the problems, to propose certain things and, in the end, we were seen as cranks. So, at five years and six days, if I remember correctly, in July 2024, I submitted my resignation.
Others left too, before me and after me. From what I know, it’s around twenty people, but I don’t know the exact number. I’m also a mechanical engineer; I have a degree. I had already found another job before I left. But others who only have this specialisation –train driving– and there are quite a few, they either have to go abroad for similar work or switch careers entirely.
There’s certainly a deep distrust among employees about the situation. Nowadays, on the labour front, from what I understand, there’s an issue with the collective agreement not being renewed, but also with the systems, because everyone can see that projects aren’t moving forward. Thessaly has no train, while the Florina line and Alexandroupoli are cut off. The railway has been fragmented — it operates in sections, and even that is plagued by deficiencies.
Some colleagues have asked me if I would return to the job. I told them: if about 50-60 people go to prison, and another 200 people in key positions around OSE –all those responsible for years of failure– are removed, then maybe I would think about it. It might sound extreme, but that’s what I believe, and that’s what I’ll do.