Greek unions protest over rail safety following train crash disaster

Railway workers’ associations called strikes, halting national rail services and the subway in Athens on Thursday to protest working conditions and what they described as a dangerous failure to modernize the rail system. They also called for a second 24-hour strike on Friday. 

Unions also held a protest on Thursday night in Athens outside the country's rail operator, Hellenic Train, in response to the deadliest railway disaster in the country's history.  

Two separate protests in central Athens were held by left-wing groups, with one resulting in clashes between stone-throwing youths and riot police. Rallies were also held in Thessaloniki and Larissa.

Critics blame a lack of public investment during the deep financial crisis that spanned most of the previous decade for the rail disaster.

 It was during the crisis, in 2017, that the rail operator, then heavily losing money, was privatized and bought by Italy's Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group.

Greece has a limited rail network that doesn't reach much of the country. Despite years of modernization projects, much of the key rail control work is still manually operated.

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